It seems like all we have to do to get a story is stay near 441. Yesterday we saw something on 441 at the north end of Mission Bay Plaza. Earlier today we were on our way into Parkland and we saw an accident scene at Marina (SW 18th) and 441. This was shortly before 1 pm.
We had time to do a short video at the scene:
What was reported to us was that the driver of the white Lexus SUV admitted to being distracted by his cell phone. Allegedly he ran a red light coming out from gas station, causing a collision with the smaller white Mitsubishi Outlander that was traveling southbound on 441.
The panorama shot below came out a little odd.
Fortunately it appears there were no injuries. Unfortunately most drivers disregarded Florida’s “Move Over” law, as can be seen in the video above. We often criticize unnecessary laws and police misconduct, but this is an important law that protects our first responders when they’re in a difficult and dangerous situation. When you see the flashing lights, please move over and give them space.
Tag: pbso
Body Found in Loggers' Run
Warning: The content of this story and some of the photos may be disturbing.
We reported earlier today that Ponderosa Drive was closed around 11 am today with Sheriff’s Deputies and Fire Rescue on scene. You can see that in the photo above. It was blocked from Woodchuck on the north side roughly to Chipmunk. The good news is that the road is now open. We were there as deputies cleared it around 3:40 pm.
The bad news is that it appears there was a suicide. This is the second body found in West Boca in the past couple months – a body was found in Sandalfoot in June.
The area deputies were focusing on was in the hedge between Ponderosa and the cul-de-sac of New Village Place. You can see it on the map below, and in the photo above – there are utility boxes and one of them is just to the right of the beige car.
Here’s a view of the boxes from New Village Place:
Detectives were on the scene but due to policy in the Sheriff’s office, and probably for good reason, they wouldn’t tell us anything.
We spoke with a neighbor who reports it was a suicide with a gunshot to the head. The gun was in the lap of the deceased.
If you are suffering from depression or suicidual thoughts, then know that you have places to turn to. There are a number of hotlines that can be found online for those who need someone to talk to. Please find the courage to speak to friends, family and whoever else about how you are feeling. If you know somebody who is struggling, regularly check in on them and offer support. Do they need to speak to a trained professional? Perhaps they need to try CBD oil to try and alleviate the symptoms of depression? Please be aware of those around you.
Warning – The photo below may be particularly upsetting for some readers.
We weren’t able to get very close. From a distance it appeared to be a male, perhaps in his 20s, wearing dark shorts, sandals, and no shirt. However, in looking at our best photo, it does look like he was wearing a shirt with a color somewhat close to skin tone.
Sheriffs and Fire Rescue on Ponderosa – Loggers Run
Several readers report activity on Ponderosa in Loggers Run, with both Sheriff’s deputies and Fire Rescue on scene.
6 cop cars, fire truck, police taped off area behind my house on Ponderosa in West Boca. Any ideas what happened? … Ponderosa between Little Bear & Woodchuck traffic closed down. Police still here.
A body found, think suicide in country landings 1.
My dog & I were sitting in backyard & I heard pop thought it was a car back firing. My dog freaked out & wanted to go inside. A few minutes later cops there.
Another reader wrote:
Police activity and ambulance again Loggers Run in West Boca It’s on Pondorosa Drive in front of Schimmer. Cars are being rerouted anyone knows what happened?
A third reader sent us this:
Not sure what is going on, but Sheriff and Fire Rescue have a portion of Ponderosa Drive shut down. It is just south of Country Landings 1.
Country Landing I is a little north of Palmetto Park Road:
We will update our story if and when we learn more.
Guns Drawn at Sandalfoot
A reader alerted us to a confrontation at Northwest Sandalfoot Plaza. Deputies with guns drawn arrested two men. See the video.
Child Hit By Car Near Lyons
One of our readers reports a child was hit by a car in Sandalfoot Squire, a community on SW 3rd Street near Lyons Road in Sandalfoot Cove. We have confirmation of the story from the Palm Beach Post.
PBSO and Fire Rescue found a car on top of a young boy, who was taken to Delray Medical Center. Our reader reports that they were on the scene fast and got the injured child on a stretcher and on the way to the hospital in a rush.
Another reader reports: “He has a concussion, staples, scrapes, sore, etc. As far as they can see no broken bones. He is in bad shape though. At first not sure if [he] would make it, but just pray please. He’s only 3.”
In our earlier Facebook post there was some heated discussion about whether parents watch their children closely enough, whether it was an appropriate thing to discuss at a time like this, and whether it was unprofessional for us to post the story as we did.
Post by West Boca News.
We’re not professional journalists. We’re amateurs and we’re learning. We don’t make any significant money on this venture and are essentially working as volunteers, though we do hope it will grow into something more.
In the articles we write on the West Boca News website we do try to be more professional. In Facebook posts like this we post more raw and early material from readers, which sometimes leads to other readers sending us more information so that we can write a complete story on the website. That community input helps us write better articles.
One commenter pointed to the Palm Beach Post article as “professional.” It had three sentences and no pictures. If professional means that, we hope we never get there.