A Cinderella story it isn't. There is a mysterious shoe and a fitting to find its rightful owner. There's even a wedding. But, at least for the shoe's alleged owner, there is no happily ever after.
The story begins with a van plowing into the bathroom of a house in Holiday, a suburb of St. Petersburg. Residents Sandy McCombie and her fiance, Michael Toth, watched the van's driver flee across their front lawn — leaving a shoe behind.
The Florida Highway Patrol was investigating about an hour later when John Glen Aquista, 43, of Holiday walked up to the scene.
The man was bloody, wearing only boxer shorts and, most important, shoeless. His injuries looked as if his face had smashed into a steering wheel, investigators said. Aquista denied involvement in the crash, but the van was registered to his address, the patrol said.
When a trooper asked him to slip on the wayward shoe, "it was a perfect fit," the FHP said.
Aquista was charged with leaving the scene of an accident involving property damage and driving without a valid license. He was being held in the Pasco County jail in lieu of $1,250 bond Monday, jail records show. It was not clear whether he had an attorney.
McCombie, 46, and Toth, 39, plan to get married Friday.
What I do is kick them in the pants with a diamond buckled shoe!
~~Aileen Mehle~~
