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Two of the students receive minor injuries. The third is treated for a broken leg.
By ROBERT FARLEY
© St. Petersburg Times, published October 3, 2001
PALM HARBOR -- A Crystal Beach motorist who said she was temporarily blinded by the sun struck three Sutherland Elementary School students waiting for their bus Tuesday morning, according to the Florida Highway Patrol.
Two of the students sustained minor injuries. The third, fourth-grader Kevin Templeton, 9, was flown to Bayfront Medical Center in St. Petersburg where he was treated for a broken leg, said Toni Gugliotta, a community service officer for the Florida Highway Patrol.
The accident occurred just after 8 a.m. on Columbia Avenue, just west of 14th Street near downtown Palm Harbor.
According to Gugliotta, Kevin and his sister, Paige, 11, of 1322 Delaware Ave., Palm Harbor, put their backpacks down on the side of the road and crossed Columbia Avenue to get a friend, Gerald A. Sizemore, 9, of 1347 Columbia Ave.
About that time, Lori Ann Medlock, 34, of 137 Georgia Ave., Crystal Beach, was picking up a child nearby. She pulled out of the driveway and pointed her 1995 Ford Taurus east, just a few houses down from where the three children were now recrossing the road, with Kevin Templeton in the rear, Gugliotta said.
Medlock said she was blinded by the sun and did not see the boy crossing the street, Gugliotta said.
"She doesn't remember seeing him there," Gugliotta said.
The car struck Kevin on the right side, then veered and struck the other two students, who were standing on the shoulder of the road, Gugliotta said.
"She (Medlock) was only two or three homes away," Gugliotta said, "and so she wasn't going very fast."
A medical helicopter landed in the parking lot at Stansell Trucking Co. and then flew Kevin to Bayfront Medical Center. On Tuesday afternoon, he was transferred to All Children's Hospital in St. Petersburg, where he was listed in stable condition. In a letter sent home with Sutherland Elementary students, assistant principal Patricia Tiggett said Kevin will have orthopedic surgery for a leg fracture.
The other two students were taken by ambulance to Mease Countryside Hospital, Safety Harbor, where they were treated for minor injuries and released, a hospital spokeswoman said.
Medlock, who could not be reached Tuesday afternoon, was not injured, Gugliotta said.
No charges have been filed pending further investigation, she said.
Pinellas County School district spokesman Ron Stone said several students visited counselors made available at Sutherland Elementary. School principal Brenda Leasure went to the accident scene and then drove to Bayfront Medical Center to check on Kevin. Another school staff member was sent to Mease Countryside Hospital to check on the other two students. Stone said school officials were relieved to hear the injuries were not more severe.
"We were very fortunate in this one," Stone said.
Leasure talked to the driver and described her as "devastated over this whole thing," Stone said.
Tuesday's accident occurred on the day of an event that encourages parents to walk to school with their children to promote pedestrian safety. In Pinellas County, the Suncoast Safe Kids Coalition at All Children's Hospital sponsored Walk This Way events at three elementary schools.
Students, parents and teachers walked to school as a group to help demonstrate safe walking habits. The coalition cited a 2000 Florida Department of Transportation report which ranked the Tampa/St. Petersburg/Clearwater metropolitan area as the most dangerous place for people to walk.
While Sutherland Elementary was not one of the schools participating in the event, Stone said the district always stresses the need for pedestrian and driver safety.
"We are in the most densely populated county in Florida," Stone said. "Our traffic patterns and volume are enormous. We always advise everyone who drives to keep an eye out for children."
- Staff writer Robert Farley can be reached at (727) 445-4185 or farley@sptimes.com.