According to the Lakeland Ledger, two children were treated after being hit by a car backing out of a driveway in Mulberry, FL on Wednesday, November 4, 2009.
According to the Polk County Sheriff's Office, Joy Meyer, 51, of Lakeland, FL, was backing out of her driveway at 5159 Misty Lake Drive in Lakeland, FL at approximately 8 a.m. when she struck two children waiting for a school bus.
Neither child was injured seriously, the Polk County Sheriff's Office said.
Polk County Sheriff Officials identified the children as 7-year-old Christina Mitchell, and 10-year-old Britney Cain who both received abrasions. Mitchell was transported to Lakeland Regional Medical Center, in Lakeland, FL as a precautionary measure. Cain's parents took her to their private physician.
Meyer has been cited for improper backing, the Polk County Sheriff's Office stated.
According to the statistics from the KIDS AND CARS database, as of June 26, 2009, there have been 302 reported deaths of children who were left unattended in or around motor vehicles.
The KIDS AND CARS database is used to describe specific incidents involving children, ages 14 years and younger, who died as a result of being left unattended in or around motor vehicles. Currently, no federal or state agency is collecting information related to deaths and injuries that occur as non-traffic incidents on private property, according to KIDS AND CARS.
The Center for Disease Control and Prevention(CDC) reports over 9,100 children who were treated in a hospital emergency room due to crash related injuries in the United States.
The Web-based Injury Statistics Query and Reporting System(WISQARS), is a organization that works in conjunction with the Center for Disease Control and Prevention, is an interactive database system that provides customized reports of injury-related data in the United States. WISQARS provides national estimates of nonfatal and fatal injuries treated in U.S. hospital emergency departments, as well as the leading causes of car crash injuries. WISQARS also charts death rates by common causes, including non-fatal and fatal car crash injuries.
In my experience as a personal injury attorney, practicing in Polk County, FL, I represent victims of automobile accidents. As the attorney, it is my role to look at the client's case from all angles. It is important to note that Florida law permits a defendant in a negligence case to raise a comparative negligence defense. If successful, the plaintiff's award may be reduced by the percentage of the plaintiff's own negligence. When the accident victim is a minor child, one should further look to the parent or adult who was responsible for the victim at the time of the accident. The comparative negligence defense may be raised if there is a question of inadequate supervision.
