Twelve year old Cape Coral girl thrown from SUV and dies in crash • Near Ellenton PRIME OUTLET MALL • EXIT 224

MANATEE COUNTY — A Cape Coral girl died Wednesday after being thrown from a sport utility vehicle on an Interstate 75 overpass and plummeting over a guard rail onto U.S. 301 below, according to a Florida Highway Patrol report.

The young girl died after being airlifted to Bayfront Medical Center in St. Petersburg in critical condition. She was riding in the third row of a 2003 Ford Expedition headed north on I-75 at about 8 a.m., when a tire on the vehicle separated. The SUV spun around and slammed into a concrete guardrail at the U.S. 301 overpass. She was lying in the seat and not wearing a seat belt, careened through the back window. The young girl and the window sailed over the edge of the guardrail and fell dozens of feet landing in the northbound lanes of U.S. 301 below. She was the only person in the vehicle that was not wearing a seatbelt.

Troopers said the crash was still under investigation, and no charges have been filed. In Florida, the driver of a vehicle can be held responsible for minors not wearing seat belts, Trooper Miller said. The crash occurred at the same place a tanker overturned over the guardrail in 2008 and exploded after smashing onto U.S. 301.

Source – Bradenton Herald

BUS CAR CRASH • Florida student awarded $1.6 MILLION in school bus crash case • PASCO COUNTY

PASCO COUNTY – According to the Tampa Tribune, "A jury deliberated for three hours Monday before finding the Pasco County school district negligent in a 2006 crash that severely injured a 16-year-old boy. The jury awarded the student, now 19, and his parents, $1.625 million in damages, which his mother has said she will use to pay for his continuing medical care."

The student “was injured September 22, 2006, when the car he was riding in collided with a Pasco County school bus."

SOURCE – Tampa Tribune

Another teen fatality - I-75 near Bruce B. Downs Boulevard in Tampa – NO SEATBELTS - FHP investigation continues

HILLSBOROUGH COUNTY - According to the Florida Highway Patrol, a 16-year-old died in a single-car crash on Interstate 75 near the junction with Bruce B. Downs Boulevard. The 16-year-old was a passenger in a 2004 Ford Explorer that went out of control and overturned in the median of the interstate.

The 2004 Ford Explorer was traveling south in the center lane of the highway when the driver lost control, drifted across the highway and rollover in the median. The passenger was not wearing her seatbelt, was thrown from the vehicle. The driver received minor injuries in the crash. She was treated at Brandon Regional Hospital.

The accident is still under investigation by the FHP.