She told people that crossing it at night was frightening. She dies after two cars strike her.
By JONATHAN ABEL
Published November 18, 2005
SPRING HILL - Erin Lechner, a cashier at Murphy's Market, remembers a customer named Ann who used to bring in cupcakes for all the grocery store's employees.
As with many of the patrons who shop at the store, at Mariner Boulevard and Chalmer Street, crossing the street seemed to terrify the woman.
"She would say how she didn't like to walk at night because it was so dangerous," Lechner recalled Thursday. "Every time she would come here, people would always offer her rides."
Wednesday night, Ann Lenardi was killed as she tried to cross Mariner at about 8:20, the Florida Highway Patrol reported. The woman was in her 70s, the FHP said, but her exact age was not yet known.
Lechner and other employees at the store believed Lenardi was likely the same woman who lived down the street and delivered cupcakes.
Lenardi had made it almost halfway across the street, walking west to east, when the mirror of a southbound car clipped her on the left side of her body, the FHP report said. The woman then fell down in the street, and another southbound car ran over her.
Lenardi was two blocks from her home at 3440 Everett Ave. when she was struck.
There were no citations or charges against the two drivers involved in the accident: Kaitlin Dilluvio, 17, and Juanita C. Arnold, 73, both of Spring Hill.
Lenardi was taken to Spring Hill Regional Hospital, where she died, reported the Highway Patrol.
