Young Driver Seriously Injured During Pinellas County Hit-and-Run Crash

By Orlando Personal Injury Attorney on January 13, 2023

Officials with the St. Petersburg Police Department are reaching out to the public this morning for help with the identification of a hit-and-run driver that severely injured another motorist last Tuesday evening along 73rd Street North in Pinellas County.

According to early incident reports from the St. Petersburg Police Department, it was approximately 6 p.m. on January 10, 2023, when 22-year-old Kaitlyn Conchiglia was driving her red sedan to work down 73rd Street North. Shortly before reaching an overpass near Tyrone Boulevard North, she noticed that a champagne-colored SUV with a lift kit had started to tailgate her vehicle.

“I had slowed down a little bit just to try to get him to go into the other lane. So then, he got over into the right lane and looked over at me and forced me into oncoming traffic, like slid into me pushing me into the median over into oncoming traffic,” recalls the auto accident victim from her hospital bed.

Immediately after the first SUV allegedly forced her sedan into oncoming traffic, Conchiglia’s sedan spun out of control and crashed into another sport utility vehicle in the area. She somehow managed to climb out of her car’s wreckage and waved down another driver so they could call for 9-1-1 services.

Pinellas County emergency responders and authorities with the St. Petersburg Police Department were dispatched to the scene of the accident and quickly transported the 22-year-old driver to Bayfront Health Medical Center with airbag burn injuries, a broken collar bone, bruising, swelling, and possible internal injuries.

Despite the harrowing ordeal, Kaitlyn Conchiglia was able to give a detailed description of the hit-and-run suspect and his vehicle. “I knew it was a bigger car and an SUV. It is gold, kind of more of a champagne gold color. It has a light bar on it which he used when he was behind me…turned it on when he was trying to get me to move out of his way. It’s lifted. It has black tires and black rims. The tires kind of stick out a little bit on the side as well,” she said in a statement to investigators.

If you have any information regarding this car accident, please contact your local law enforcement agency, the St. Petersburg Police Department, or Florida’s toll-free Crimeline at 800-423-TIPS.

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.