One Dead, Two Injured After Two-Car-Crash Near Tampa

By Orlando Personal Injury Attorney on April 6, 2020

A car crash that took place close to Tampa on Wednesday, April 1st, is under investigation by the Lakeland Police Department after one person died and two suffered from injuries. Reports currently available indicated that it was sometime during the early morning, close to 12:30 a.m. that two vehicles were traveling close to Holly Road and East Memorial Boulevard.

Behind the wheel of one of the vehicles, a 2002 Honda Accord, was a 17-year-old. Beside them in the car sat a 16-year-old Lakeland resident. They were driving the Accord down the eastern lanes of U.S. 92 (East Memorial Boulevard). At the same time, a 42-year-old was behind the wheel of a 2017 Jeep Compass and traveling down the western lanes of U.S. 92. It is not believed that there was anyone else in the car with them.

For reasons that are under investigation, it was as the two vehicles neared one another that the 17-year-old suddenly veered the Accord out of the inside eastbound lane, across the left turn lane, and into the western lanes of U.S. 92. The point at which this was done was exactly the point at which the 42-year-old was about to pass the Accord, meaning that the two vehicles were now headed directly towards one another with little or no time for the individual drivers to change course.

We do not know if either driver managed to attempt any sort of avoidance of the oncoming crash, but it is clear that the Jeep and the Accord collided head-on with one another, causing all three individuals involved to suffer from fairly severe injuries. Emergency response crews rushed to the area immediately after being notified and proceeded to shut down a large stretch of the road while paramedics and EMTs began to treat the crash victims.

The 16-year-old passenger within the Accord was declared dead at the scene of the crash. Both the 17-year-old driver and the 42-year-old driver were transported from the scene to Lakeland Regional Health Medical Center where they were, at the time of this writing, still receiving treatment. It is not clear if they are being treated as critical cases or if their injuries are believed to be treatable.

Sources:

• Lakeland teen dies in 2-vehicle crash

James O. Cunningham

Since 1977, personal injury lawyer James Cunningham has provided effective legal advocacy to people who are injured through the negligent actions of another person or entity throughout the Central Florida area. He fights to obtain recoveries for his clients’ physical and emotional pain and suffering and pursues his clients’ personal injury cases with a commitment to excellence and impeccable preparation.