12/13/2010 // West Palm Beach, FL, US // Sandra Quinlan // Sandra Quinlan
Winter Haven, FL—A violent motor vehicle accident claimed the life of a sergeant with the Polk County Sheriff’s Office and left two others injured Sunday morning, Dec. 12, 2010. The fatal crash happened around 10:30 a.m., near Spirit Lake Road and Recker Highway in Winter Haven, Fla., according to information provided by Click Orlando.
Reports indicated 60-year-old Sgt. Wesley Richard Whitmore Jr. had just parked his patrol car at a 7-Eleven store when something went horribly wrong.
A Cadillac Escalade, driven by an unidentified 79-year-old man, apparently slammed into metal barriers, struck a female business owner and her business, and careened through the parking lot.
The SUV then slammed into the Whitmore’s patrol car, causing it to spin 180 degrees and hit the sergeant. The Escalade then swerved into a cluster of bushes and went down an embankment, before driving through a retention pond and back into the intersection of Spirit Lake Road and Recker Hwy.
According to the Sheriff’s Office, it did not appear as if the driver of the out-of-control Escalade applied the vehicle’s brakes at any point.
Whitmore was sadly killed in the collision. The business owner who was hit, whom authorities identified as Wanda Perez, along with the driver of the Escalade, was rushed to Winter Haven Hospital after the wreck. Their injuries did not seem to be life threatening.
A full investigation into the deadly Winter Haven crash was expected to be underway.
Legal News Reporter: Sandra Quinlan– Legal News for Florida Auto Accident Lawyers.
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Url: Sandra Quinlan: West Palm Beach Injury News
