A 61-year-old man was killed after being thrown from a Corvette that crashed on U.S. 1 Tuesday night, according to the Florida Highway Patrol.

Bernard George Snyder, a passenger in the sports car, was taken to Fishermen's Hospital, where he was pronounced dead, said FHP spokesman Alex Annunziato.

The 2001 Corvette was driven by Richard Lee Hall, 64, who was southbound at Mile Marker 47.5 near 14th Street at 5:40 p.m. when he lost control of the car, drove off the road onto a grass shoulder, over the sidewalk and struck a metal pole, reports say. There were no other vehicles involved.

The passenger side of the car reportedly hit the pole, which ejected Snyder. He was not wearing a seat belt, reports say.

Blood was drawn from Hall to determine if alcohol or drugs were a factor in the crash, but no charges had been filed as of Wednesday.

"This is possibly a situation, according to the investigator, where the driver did not have much experience driving a manual transmission, engaged the clutch at a high revolution and lost control," Annunziato said.

How fast the car was traveling was not determined.

Both men have an address listed as 101 11th St. in Marathon.

It was unclear Wednesday if Hall was still being treated at Fishermen's Hospital or had been released. He was wearing a seat belt, reports say.

alinhardt@keysnews.com