 |
||||||||
 |
||||||||
|
||||||||
Back
|
Crowded van flips on I-75; 14 hurt
By CURTIS KRUEGER and CANDACE RONDEAUX
Fourteen people crammed into a Ford Aerostar van were looking forward to a pleasant Labor Day outing, away from a Tampa homeless shelter and onto a Sarasota beach. But as they traveled down Interstate 75, a tire separated and the van flipped twice. The passengers -- 11 of them children, 10 of whom were not in seat belts or car seats -- ricocheted inside the spinning vehicle. A 6-year-old boy was thrown from the van and then trapped beneath it, according to the Florida Highway Patrol. The boy, Samuel Santos, 6, suffered burns to his back and was taken to Tampa General Hospital. He was listed in serious condition late Monday. The other 10 children and three adults were taken to Bayfront Medical Center in St. Petersburg, Manatee Memorial Hospital and Blake Medical Center in Bradenton with broken bones, scrapes and minor injuries. The van wound up in a ditch off I-75 in Manatee County, about half a mile south of State Road 64. The driver of the van, Brenda L. Zatizabal, 30, was cited for a child restraint violation and charged with with driving on a suspended license. Her license had been suspended for failure to pay a traffic fine, said Lt. Mike Rushing, a spokesman for the Florida Highway Patrol's Bradenton District. Zatizabal, who is pregnant, went into labor at the scene of the accident and was taken to Manatee Memorial Hospital in Bradenton, Rushing said. June Richards, a nursing supervisor at Manatee Memorial, said she could not give details on Zatizabal's condition. But Richards did say she thought Zatizabal was seven or eight months pregnant and that doctors would likely keep her under observation overnight. "Shocked and saddened," was how Lesa Weikel described the reaction among residents and staff at Metropolitan Ministries in Tampa, where the victims had been living. "We're a very close community with our residents here. Everyone's just, "What can we do? What can we do?' " The group's trip began Monday like many other Labor Day outings, said Weikel, the agency's coordinator of community relations. A group of friends from the shelter said to themselves, " "It's a holiday. The kids are out of school. Some of us are off from work. Let's go do something fun today.' " The residents left in two vehicles from the shelter. Weikel said that Zatizabal was not a Metropolitan Ministries employee and that the van she drove was owned by a resident, not the agency. She said the beach trip had not been planned by Metropolitan Ministries. The shelter is "not a lock-down facility where they have to have permission to come and go," Weikel said. She also said Metropolitan Ministries kept car seats available for children staying there and frequently reminded people that they need to keep children in seat belts and car seats. Asked if Metropolitan Ministries would review its policies, she said the staff would be talking to the residents to help them "work to make better choices." "We will see if there's anything we can do." she said. According to the Florida Highway Patrol, the two adults in the van besides the driver were Sandra Rodriguez, 29, and Miguel Caldarone, 33. Besides Samuel, the FHP said, the children in the van were: Cynthia Caldarone, 3; Jonathan Caldarone, 4; Miguel Caldarone Jr., 8; Miguel Caldarone III, 10; Miguel Rodriguez, 11; Jennifer Rodriguez, 6; Greystake Melgar, 3; Mario Melgar, 13; Christopher Melgar, 8; and Angel Santos, 1. Angel was the one child who was "properly restrained" in the van, according to FHP.
 © 2006 • All Rights Reserved • St. Petersburg Times
490 First Avenue South • St. Petersburg, FL 33701 • 727-893-8111 
|
Headlines From the Times local news desks |
