TRINITY, FL- patch.com reports that Florida Highway Patrol has arrested the driver responsible for a hit-and-run accident that killed a 17-year-old girl on Tuesday, April 24, 2018. The collision occurred at Duck Slough Boulevard and State Road 54 at about 2:30 in the afternoon. The collision resulted from a car running through a red light […]
TRINITY, FL- patch.com reports that Florida Highway Patrol has arrested the driver responsible for a hit-and-run accident that killed a 17-year-old girl on Tuesday, April 24, 2018. The collision occurred at Duck Slough Boulevard and State Road 54 at about 2:30 in the afternoon.
The collision resulted from a car running through a red light and striking another vehicle. The collision led to two additional cars, which were waiting in the left-hand turn lane, being struck.
The driver hit by the car that ran the red light was Lillia Grace Morris, 17. Morris was pronounced dead at the scene of the accident.
Twenty-seven-year-old Brandon Casey Windom, of Tampa, is said to have been operating the vehicle that ran the light. Windom fled the scene after the collision.
Florida has made efforts to lower the number of hit-and-run accidents that occur in the state. In nearly 25% of car crashes within Florida, the party who caused the accident flees the scene. Most hit-and-run accidents only result in property damage, but others can be deadly.
The Aaron Cohen Life Protection Act was entered into law in Florida in 2014. The law, which creates harsher penalties for drivers who flee from the scene of an accident, was named after Cohen, a 31-year-old father, and cyclist who was killed in a hit-and-run collision in 2012.
Drivers who leave after being involved in a fatal car crash or pedestrian collision now face mandatory minimum prison sentences of 4 years. Drivers responsible for hit-and-run accidents that only cause property damage can also face prison time for fleeing the scene of the crash.
Florida also initiated an educational campaign called “Stay at the Scene,” which aims to inform drivers of their responsibilities and the consequences of leaving the scene of an accident.
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