Two People Killed, One Injured During Multi-Vehicle Crash in Ocala

By Orlando Personal Injury Attorney on August 28, 2023

Officials in Marion County are currently determining the chain of events that led to a multi-vehicle collision and the subsequent deaths of two people over the weekend along South Pine Avenue in Ocala.

According to preliminary collision reports from the Ocala Police Department, it was shortly before 10:30 p.m. on Saturday, August 26, 2023, when responding officers were investigating an auto accident near the intersection of SW 17th Street and South Pine Avenue. As they performed their routine procedures, 44-year-old Ocala resident Kristopher Kent Winningham approached from the eastern direction of SW 17th Street in an Acura ILX and crashed into a pedestrian before hitting a parked patrol vehicle.

After leaving the scene of the pedestrian accident, authorities pursued the hit-and-run suspect down Maricamp Road while another Ocala officer sat in a department-issued SUV near the First Baptist Church of Ocala and prepared to set up stop-sticks. The 44-year-old driver veered off the road, presumably to avoid the approaching police barrier, and slammed into the front of the sport utility vehicle.

Additional Marion County emergency responders were dispatched to both accident sites, with one team immediately transporting 26-year-old Williston resident James Anthony Thompson Jr., the pedestrian, to the closest hospital with severe injuries. He did not survive. The Ocala officer who was involved in the head-on collision was also taken to the hospital with serious injuries.

The driver of the Acura, Kristopher Kent Winningham sustained fatal injuries and died at the hospital.

No further details about this case have been released, however, public arrest records show that Winningham was previously sent to prison where he served time for fleeing and eluding, as well as resisting a law enforcement official.

Since 1977, Marion County wrongful death lawyer James O. Cunningham has been fighting for the rights of victims who were killed during hit-and-run collisions, head-on car accidents, drunk driver accidents, texting while driving accidents, and T-bone collisions. For additional information, please fill out a quick contact form located on our website. If you would like to schedule a free 30-minute case evaluation, please call our law firm today at 877-FL-INJURY.

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.