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Child killed when car's tire fails on Interstate 4

By REBECCA CATALANELLO
Published December 30, 2006

PLANT CITY - A tire failure turned fatal Friday after a driver lost control of her car on Interstate 4. The car spun out, then tumbled over, ejecting her 4-year-old son.

Adrian Brathwaite of Orlando died at Lakeland Regional Medical Center shortly after 5 p.m.

The accident happened after tread separated on the rear right tire of his mother's 1989 Toyota Corolla, according to investigators.

Trooper Larry Coggins of the Florida Highway Patrol said the boy was not wearing a seat belt and the vehicle was not equipped with a child seat or booster seat.

Martine Peronel, 30, told traffic investigators she was traveling west on I-4 at 4:20 p.m. with her mother in the passenger seat when she heard a loud pop and lost control.

The car spun counterclockwise, Coggins said, entered the median, then overturned without hitting the guardrail separating the westbound from eastbound lanes.

Jeanne Peronel, 66, of St. Petersburg, and her daughter, Martine, were not injured. They were both wearing seat belts, Coggins said.

The single-car accident just east of Branch Forbes Road caused significant rush-hour traffic slow-downs, though it did not block any lanes.

The trooper said it's impossible to know whether the child would have been hurt if he had been properly restrained.

"But I can say that, had he been restrained, he would not have been ejected to median," he said.

Florida state law requires children from birth until 6 years old be restrained by a child seat, booster seat or seat belt.

The accident was still under investigation late Friday. The tires on the vehicle were Dunlop brand, Coggins said, and they did not appear to be worn.

Tire tread separation can be caused by running over something or by problems with the tire itself, he said. There was no indication at the scene that the tire had hit anything, he said.

[Last modified December 30, 2006, 00:58:35]