FHP officials say that deputy involved in the accident is assigned to the Metropolitan Bureau of Investigation, a group of law enforcement officials from several different agencies. The FHP accident report said that the deputy was wearing a seatbelt at the time of the accident and investigating officers say that alcohol was not a contributing factor in the pedestrian accident. FHP officers say the woman died at the scene of the accident and were investigating whether or not the victim had been drinking before the accident.

This pedestrian accident was the second to involve an unmarked Orange County Sheriff’s Deputy car that day. Earlier that day, a kindergartener was critically injured when she darted out in front of an unmarked car on John Young Parkway at Orange Center Boulevard. The girl was listed in stable but critical condition when the article was published.

The State of Florida, especially cities in Central Florida, leads the nation in people struck and injured or killed in pedestrian accidents. Since 1977, Orlando pedestrian accident attorney James O. Cunningham has been helping pedestrian accident victims and the families recover from these terrible accidents. A person walking along the road or crossing at an intersection has no defenses against a moving vehicle weighing thousands of pounds. As a result, many pedestrian accident survivors face a long, painful and terribly expensive road to recovery. The families of people killed in Florida pedestrian accidents must contend with the loss of a loved one, burial expenses and medical bills.

If you or someone you care for has been hurt or killed on a Central Florida pedestrian accident, Orlando pedestrian accident attorney James O. Cunningham may be able to help. He offers free consultations and offers his services on a contingency-fee basis, which means that clients are not charged any fees unless he makes a recovery for them. Schedule a free consultation with Orlando pedestrian accident lawyer James O. Cunningham today.

The victim was pronounced dead at the scene of the accident after being struck by a 2007 Saturn sedan around 6 a.m. while he was crossing the intersection of Sand Lake Road, or State Road 482, and Universal Boulevard in Orlando. The article said that the investigation was ongoing, but a police official said that he did not believe that any charges would be filed against the Saturn’s driver, a 50-year-old Haines City man. The investigating police officer said that the intersection is a busy area often used by tourists in the area and does not have any crosswalks.

“We are heartbroken today by the loss of a wonderful and loving husband, father, grandfather and physician,” said a statement released today by the victim’s family. “He dedicated his life to his family and patients. His rewards from a life of caring were tremendous and his loss unfathomable.”

Orlando is the most dangerous place for pedestrians in the country, followed by Tampa and Miami. The Orlando metropolitan area has the highest rate of pedestrian accidents in the United States and the rate has been steadily rising for several years. People who are struck by cars often suffer very serious injuries such as:

• Traumatic brain injury
• Compound fractures
• Back injuries
• Ruptured organs
• Paralysis
• And many other types of injuries requiring expensive medical care

Orlando pedestrian accident attorney James O. Cunningham has represented pedestrian accident victims and their families for well over three decades. He helps them receive the compensation they deserve to offset expensive hospital stays, prescription medication, rehabilitation regimens, lost wages and other accident-related costs. He offers free initial consultations and explains complex laws in plain, easy-to-understand language so that his clients and their families can make informed decision about which course of actions will be best for them. If you or someone you care for has been injured or killed in a Central Florida pedestrian accident, call Orlando pedestrian accident lawyer James O. Cunningham today.

A police spokesperson said that it looked like the vehicle struck the victim with the left front bumper, causing her to roll on top of the car’s hood. The victim was transported to the trauma unit of Shands at the University of Florida and died from her injuries a short time later. The police said that the extent of the victim’s injuries warranted the dispatching of the Traffic Homicide Unit immediately.

“We believe the woman was in the road when she was hit by a vehicle,” the spokesperson said. “We don’t know why she was in the road.”

He went on to say that investigating officers told him that the car’s driver was helpful during the investigation and did not exhibit any obvious signs of drunkenness or otherwise impaired by drugs and alcohol. According to the report, the driver willingly submitted to sobriety tests. The victim had graduated from the University of Florida in 2008 with a bachelor’s degree in animal science and planned to apply for veterinary school.

Pedestrian accidents like this one happen nearly every day in Florida and seldom do these accidents result in happy endings. If the person struck by the car or truck isn’t killed by the impact, they often spend weeks or months recuperating in hospitals and rehabilitative facilities. They must contend with not only the profound physical discomfort from the accident, but also the considerable financial discomfort and stresses of costly medical bills.

Under Florida law, a pedestrian must give the right-of-way to all vehicles on the roadway if crossing a street outside of a marked or unmarked crosswalk, either at the intersection or at mid-block. If you or someone you care for sustains injury in a pedestrian accident, call Orlando pedestrian accident attorney James O. Cunningham today and schedule a free consultation to learn what rights to recovery you have in your particular situation. If Mr. Cunningham accepts your case, he will work hard to help you and your family receive the financial compensation you deserve to help with lost wages, medical bills and other expenses. Contact the Law Offices of James O. Cunningham today and put his 33 years of legal experience to work for you.

“I want to say I’m so sorry to (the victim’s mother),” the man said after sentencing. After the accused made that statement, Judge Roger McDonald made an unusual request that stunned many in the courtroom—including the accused man’s mother.

“Mothers, come on up. Why don’t you embrace?” asked the judge, requesting the victim’s mother and the defendant’s mother to hug each other. “What I ask you to do, to embrace each other, not only as you just did, but I highly recommend you work together,” the judge added.

The judge exhorted the two mothers to work together to put an end to street racing. The defendant told the judge and others in the courtroom that he plans to fight illegal street racing when he gets out of prison. Then he faced the accident victim’s mother and said,

“I feel sorry for this nightmare I have created out of this. I feel horrible knowing I was the cause of death of (the deceased.)”

The victim’s mother responded to the apology saying, “To help another kid from getting hit, we will do it. We will welcome his family in and take whatever ideas we have so we can make it stronger and make this law go through.”

The accident occurred on June 14 and the defendant turned himself in to authorities three days later on June 17. Prosecutors in the auto accident case claimed that the defendant had tried to hide evidence by making a claim to his auto insurance company. While the victim’s family believed a charge of vehicular homicide would have been appropriate, the defendant pled guilty to the lesser charge of causing an accident that resulted in death. The defendant claimed that he did not see the victim walk out in front of his speeding car. He received a two-year prison sentence and five years of probation.

Anyone engaging in illegal street racing is operating their vehicle in a grossly negligent manner and putting the people around them at risk. Orlando pedestrian accident attorney James O. Cunningham has been helping pedestrian accident victims and their families obtain the financial compensation they deserve for well over 32 years. If you or a loved one incurred injuries or if a loved one died in a Central Florida pedestrian accident, call Orlando auto accident lawyer James O. Cunningham today.

The victim’s mother has urged law enforcement authorities to investigate the pedestrian accident, but the lack of publicity in the case has made her uncertain whether or not the police were looking for the driver who struck the young man and fled from the scene. She went public recently with her dissatisfaction about the lack of cooperation and communication in the case.

“They left my son laying face down in a ditch for 45 minutes,” she said this week. “That 45 minutes could have saved my son’s life…My 10-year-old son wants to know why this happened to his brother. I want to have some kind of closure on this—why my baby had to be taken from me. I have not seen anybody since the day they came to my house and told me my son was hit.”

The Lake County Sheriff’s Office were the first to respond to the pedestrian accident, but turned the case over to the Florida Highway Patrol. After the mother made repeated inquiries about the case, Sgt. Kim Montes located the case in the department’s computer system.

“As to why the PIO wasn’t notified, I don’t know,” Montes said after finding the incident report. “I haven’t had a chance to talk to those two investigators yet. Per our policy, they’re supposed to send me a press release on any fatality.”

The computer system shows that the FHP received the call at 8:40 p.m. that evening and arrived on the scene at 9:24 p.m., the victim was airlifted to the hospital in critical condition at about 8:52 p.m. and the parent was notified about the accident around 10:08 p.m. that night. The driver of the vehicle that struck the teen and fled from the scene was identified as a 29-year-old woman also from Okahumpka.

Pedestrian accidents claim over 100 lives each year in Florida, and thousands more suffer severe injuries that require long and expensive stays in the hospital. Expensive medical care and other accident-related expenses cause terrible financial hardship for victims and their families. Orlando pedestrian accident attorney James O. Cunningham has been helping victims and their families receive the compensation they deserve to help with expenses since 1977. If you or someone you care for has been hurt or killed in a pedestrian accident, call the Law Offices of James O. Cunningham today to schedule a free consultation.

Pensacola police were notified about the van after a Gulf County Sheriff’s Office captain got a tip from a confidential informant. The informant had heard that a relative had asked family members to pick up a van from a Gulf Breeze tow lot because he had hit a pedestrian while driving it and did not want any possible links between them and the van. The van was towed to the lot after the driver was arrested on an unrelated charge in Santa Rosa County two days after the pedestrian accident occurred. Pensacola police found the van had damage to its hood, windshield and front with tape on the shattered windshield.

Pensacola’s Assistant Police Chief said that hair samples found on the van were sent to the Florida Department of Law Enforcement for analysis. The hair samples were found on the tape and the windshield according to an affidavit and at the time the article was published, no arrests had been made in relation to the van or the hit-and-run pedestrian accident.

There were 8139 pedestrian accidents in Florida in 2007 that resulted in 530 people killed and 7529 injured. Pedestrian accident survivors often face a long path to recovery with lengthy and expensive rehabilitative care and sometimes many months of lost wages.

A strong advocate for victims of pedestrian accidents, Orlando pedestrian accident lawyer James O. Cunningham has helped many victims of pedestrian accidents since he began his personal injury law practice in 1977. He offers free consultations and works on a contingency-fee basis that means if he accepts your case, he charges no fees unless he makes a recovery on your behalf. Call the Law Offices of James O. Cunningham today to schedule your free consultation.

FHP officers investigating the pedestrian accident scene said that one victim was a 23-year-old Sarasota man and the other victim was believed to be around 19-years-old. His name and address had not been released when the article was published. Troopers said that a witness to the accident called 911, and emergency response personnel called the FHP. A FHP spokesperson said that the 18-year-old driver of the truck remained at the accident scene.

A FHP spokesperson said, “The law says when you’re walking along the roadway, you have to walk off the roadway. You can’t walk in the street. Number two, you’re supposed to walk against the flow of traffic. These individuals were walking in the roadway, with no street lighting. It’s a very dangerous situation to be in.”

The stretch of road where the victims were hit has a posted 60 mph speed limit. If the truck driver was going the speed limit, he would have been traveling at 87 feet per second.

Although the article suggests that the two victims were responsible for the dangerous position, hundreds more Floridians are injured and killed each year. Many are struck by motorists who are distracted by cell phones, driving under the influence of alcohol and/or drugs or disobeying a traffic signal. No matter what negligent behavior distracts or impairs a driver’s ability to react and avoid striking a pedestrian, they can still be held responsible for their actions.

Orlando pedestrian accident attorney James Cunningham has helped the victims of pedestrian accidents and their families since 1977. In well over three decades of practicing personal injury law, Mr. Cunningham has helped countless pedestrian accident victims receive the financial compensation they deserve to help offset the steep costs of hospital care and rehabilitation. If you or a member of your family has been hurt in a pedestrian accident, call Florida pedestrian accident lawyer James Cunningham today to schedule a free consultation.