Upgraded Charge for Sarasota County Hit-and-Run Driver

By Orlando Personal Injury Attorney on August 31, 2022

According to an updated report from troopers with the Florida Highway Patrol in Sarasota County, a 65-year-old driver has been taken into custody and will face an additional felony charge for his alleged involvement in a hit-and-run crash that eventually claimed the life of a 13-year-old hit-and-run victim.

After almost two weeks of fighting for her life, 13-year-old Pine View Student Lilly Glaubach was unable to continue her struggle and sadly succumbed to the injuries she received during a hit-and-run collision on August 16, 2022 in Osprey.

Initial collision details from responding officers with the Florida Highway Patrol indicate that it was shortly after 4 p.m. when 13-year-old Lilly Glaubach was riding her bicycle near the intersection of East Bay Street and Old Venice Road. It was as she entered the nearby school’s crosswalk, which is illuminated by yellow flashing lights and cautionary road signs, that 65-year-old David Ching Cheng Chang crashed into the young girl while driving a dark silver sedan. He fled the scene of the accident immediately after it occurred, but was located a day later while attempting to have his vehicle repaired at a body shop.

The impact from the car vs. pedestrian accident was so forceful that it propelled the young victim over the hood and windshield of the vehicle. She landed nearly 75 feet from where the collision originated. Sarasota County emergency response teams arrived at the scene of the accident within a matter of minutes and quickly transported the 13-year-old to Johns Hopkins All Children’s Hospital in St. Petersburg. She remained in the hospital with a fractured pelvis and severe traumatic brain injuries until last Sunday when she passed away.

David Chang, who was originally arrested for leaving the scene of the crash involving a serious injury, leaving the scene with property damage, and evidence destruction, will now face an upgraded charge of leaving the scene without rendering aid involving death. He was apprehended in Jacksonville, Arkansas on Sunday by local authorities and was taken to Pulaski County Jail where he awaits extradition back to Sarasota County, Florida.

A GoFundMe page has been created on Lilly’s behalf in order to help her surviving family members with medical costs and funeral expenses.

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.