Local News and Real Estate for West Boca Raton
Readers tipped us off to a few accidents today.
First was the car fire this morning on Boca Rio. The photos are from the county Fire Rescue:
The alert was at 8:54 am:
Next on Glades near Sandpiper Shores Elementary, around “4ish”:
And last on Lyons at SW 8th:
As always, we thank our readers for the tips and photos.
Update: See bottom of article.
Thanks to a reader for photos of a car that flipped over at or near the intersection of El Camino Real and Powerline. This was about two hours ago.
In the comments on the Facebook post of this article, the driver let us know what happened:
We are glad to hear Ms. Fonseca is okay, thank her for her comment, and wish her well.
We heard about a traffic incident last night from a reader and also from a personal friend. We’ve checked the blotter and see no arrests that fit with this incident nor the pedestrians hit in front of West Boca Medical Center. We have reached out to PBSO but so far we’re not getting meaningful answers on either one.
Me and my friend almost got into a wreck because of these people but the person driving the truck seemed drunk and was swerving all over the road. They hit a tree and then the driver ran from the scene and left the truck!
And from our friend:
A truck passed us going over 100 in a residential area just outside [Boca Winds]. He turned sharply into [Boca Falls] immediately in front of another car, blocking the car from moving forward. We thought it might be a case of road rage and that the two drivers were about to get into it. But the truck backs away after a couple of seconds (and probably after seeing that road was the entrance to a gated subdivision – Boca Falls), cuts in front of us, and goes across the street into [Boca Winds], driving really wildly and out of control. The truck slams into a tree and just then a police car flies by us in pursuit. The driver of the truck jumped out of the vehicle and “escaped” on foot with the officer in pursuit. This all happened right in front of us over just 30 seconds or so. We had to back out of the entrance to get to our street another way.
Boca Falls and Boca Winds have entrances that meet on West Palmetto Park Road about 2 miles west of 441.
Here’s is last night’s public statement from PBSO:
Around 9 pm this evening PBSO responded to a hit and run accident involving 1 vehicle and 3 pedestrians. The vehicle was traveling north bound on State Road 7 just north of Central Park Blvd South.
The three pedestrians were riding skate boards on the bicycle lane on the east side of the road going north when they were struck by the vehicle. The vehicle left the scene heading north and has been apprehended. Two of the pedestrians where taken to delray medical center and are in stable condition and one was taken west boca medical.
The investigation is open and ongoing and the driver will be checked for possible impairment.
In the blotter we found a hit-and-run arrest, but the driver was from West Palm Beach and court records say that relates to an incident in July. We also see a “fleeing law enforcement” arrest, but the driver in that incident is from Pahokee, which is an awfully long drive from Palmetto Park Road.
Update: Per a reader the road is still closed as of 11:40 pm on Friday night.
A friend alerted us tonight to an accident scene on the northbound side of 441 near Target and West Boca Medical Center. We went to the scene and took several photos as well as video. A brief video summary is below, but it was early in our investigation and we learned more afterward.
We also received the following thanks to Palm Beach County Alerts:
***WEST BOCA*** Pedestrian Accident — Central Park Blvd S @ State Road 7 — R51 onscene in front of West Boca Hospital, vehicle hit multiple pedestrians, Incident Commander advising they have 2 Trauma Alerts going to Delray Trauma Center by ground & 1 other patient non-critical — Tac 4A
Here’s a map showing the location:
At the scene this reporter was able to see various items of debris in the roadway and on the shoulder. In particular there was a shoe or sneaker, a flip-flop, and a hat, all in the travel portion of the roadway.
I also saw two different skateboards, an orange one just off the shoulder at the south end of the scene, and a green one further into the grass at the north end of the debris area. In the picture below, the orange skateboard is at the lower left corner and you may be able to see the shoe in roughly the middle of the picture.
I’m not sure why this worked with my camera but the shot below gives a good sense of the amount of debris in the roadway behind one of the cars that was on the scene:
Later on deputies from PBSO were spray-painting the roadway where the items were and then collecting the items as evidence, as seen in the two videos below:
Piecing it all together based on my experience in handling criminal and personal injury cases including accident reconstructions, certain details stand out. First of all the shoe, flip-flop and hat in the roadway suggest that there wasn’t just one pedestrian hit by a vehicle but multiple and they were in the roadway when they were hit. It is somewhat common for a pedestrian to be literally knocked out of their shoes when hit by a car. In this case it would appear that two different pedestrians were hit, as it seems unlikely that one person would be wearing a flip-flop on one foot and a shoe on the other. For legal help with a pedestrian accident, you may wish to reach out to a law firm like Ruloff, Swain, Haddad, Morecock, Talbert & Woodward, P.C. to help you out.
There is not much lighting on the northbound side of the road and it may have been difficult for a driver to see skateboarders crossing the road in the dark. We were notified of the accident after 8:30 pm and it was dark.
Shortly before we left the scene the individuals we saw at the side of the road were allowed to leave. It’s unclear if they were just witnesses, or if one of their vehicles had been involved in the collision. I did not see any damage to either vehicle though the lighting was poor and I was not allowed to get close to the vehicles.
I should also note that a reader told us:
Two teenagers on the ground by west boca medical center. Looks like they must have been hit by a car or something.
Those who have been the victim of injuries sustained by being hit by a vehicle may wish to speak with lawyers such as the ones at GJEL.com.
Also, per CBS 12: “Three people were riding skateboards in the bike lane when they were hit by the vehicle. The vehicle then fled the scene and the driver was later caught, according to The Palm Beach County Sheriff’s Office.”
We’ve had multiple reports of traffic problems today in West Boca. Earlier today there was a bad accident on the Turnpike that caused serious backups both northbound and southbound near Glades Road. Red lines, from Google Traffic, are bad news.
That appears to have cleared up. Around 1 pm we were notified of a mess at Lyons and Glades Road and we actually saw it as we were leaving Stallone’s. Fortunately for us we were going the other way. That had to do with a traffic light being out.
Just now we heard that 441 is closed near New England Blvd due to another traffic light being out.
And we also heard that the light at Lyons and Yamato may be out. Google Maps shows traffic problems in both of those areas, though fortunately it doesn’t look too bad.
It’s just one of those days.