Courtesy photo/WFTV.com. Emergency vehicles surround the fatal accident scene on the beach in Daytona Beach where a 4-year-old girl from England was struck and killed Saturday.
DAYTONA BEACH -- A 4-year-old girl from England whose hand was being held by her uncle was struck and killed Saturday by a Lincoln Town Car while the two were walking on the beach in front of Sun Splash Park and the Volusia County Lifeguard Tower, the Florida Highway Patrol said. As if that wasn't bad enough, the motorist panicked and instead of hitting her brakes, hit the accelerator and ran the child over, the FHP said.
This horrible accident occurred at 2:57 p.m. in one of the busiest stretches of the beach. The child was pronounced dead at the scene, the highway patrol said.
The driver, 66-year-old Barbara Worley of Elberton, Ga., was driving less than the posted speed of 10 mph, the FHP said, striking the child, but then instead of stopping, she hit the accelerator for some unknown reason and ran the child over before finally stopping some 20 feet later.
Here is a synopsis of what happened as described by FHP spokeswoman Kim Monte: The child was walking hand in hand in front of her uncle when the child stepped out in front of the car and was struck. Bystanders yelled for the driver to stop as the child lay in front, but for an unknown reason, the driver panicked and ran over the child.
Montes said charges are pending completion of a traffic homicide investigation.
Beach officials said high tide, which narrows the space between motorists and sunbathers may be a factor in this fatality..
This is the first pedestrian death on Volusia County beaches this year. The last time someone was run over and killed on the beach was in the mid-1990s. Last July, a beach patrol officer ran over a sunbather, who survived because she sank in the thick sand, suffering injuries to her shoulders and stomach. The officer was ticketed.
This is the second small child struck by a motor vehicle in Volusia County this week.
Late Tuesday night, a 2-year-old boy was struck by a car in the 400 block of Third Avenue on the beachside of New Smyrna Beach.
The toddler, Caden W. Epps, who suffered a concussion and lacerations, was struck by a westbound 1999 Ford Taurus just as his mother, Christina M. Davis of Longwood, was putting items in her car after leaving Norwood's Restaurant and Wine Shop just after 10:30 p.m.
The boy was alert and crying when he was flown by Sheriff's Air-one Helicopter to Halifax Medical Center, said investigating New Smyrna Beach police officer Matt Scheaffer.
A car on the inside lane saw the toddler and immediately braked, but the driver in the outside lane could not see the child and didn't know why the other car had braked, but that prompted him to apply his brakes as well, though the child was still hit by the front right corner of his Taurus.
The driver will not be charged because he was not at fault in the accident, Scheaffer said. The toddler suffered a concussion and lacerations, but is recovering in the pediatric intensive care unit at Halifax and recognized his parents immediately in the hospital the next morning, Scheaffer said.