Hearse with flag-draped coffin left in parking lot


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NEW PORT RICHEY, Fla. (AP) — Two Florida hearse drivers have been fired after they stopped at a doughnut shop with a flag-draped coffin in the vehicle on the way to a funeral and an outraged man sent a video to a local veterans group.

As first reported by WFLA-TV(http://bit.ly/1e1wPb8), Rob Carpenter spotted the hearse in the parking lot of a New Port Richey Dunkin' Donuts on Tuesday with its curtains open and the coffin visible.

In the coffin was the body of 84-year-old Lt. Col. Jesse Coleman, a decorated soldier who served in Korea and Vietnam. The hearse was transporting him from Veterans Funeral Care to his funeral.

Carpenter confronted the driver and sent images to VeteranWarriors. The group posted the images to Facebook.

Funeral home director Jim Rudolph says he fired the men.

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