The Orlando Sentinel reports here another tragic story of a pedestrian hit and killed by a driver — this time in Daytona Beach. However, unlike many recent stories where it appeared that the pedestrians may have been crossing roadways late at night, or outside of marked crosswalks, this wrongful death occurred on the sidewalk.
According to the Sentinel, Terence Vanauken told police that an unidentified vehicle was in his lane of travel on Fentress Boulevard heading in the wrong direction. As a result, Mr. Vanauken claimed that he had to swerve out of his lane and off of the road to avoid the unidentified vehicle. Unfortunately, a 35-year old man was standing on the sidewalk next to Fentress. Mr. Vanauken’s vehicle struck the pedestrian and unfortunately killed him.
As an Orlando accident attorney, if I was a family member of the man who was tragically killed, I would want to know a lot more about this alleged phantom vehicle. I would want to inspect the area of crash to see whether there is any evidence of another vehicle, or whether Mr. Vanauken had any other options for his vehicle other than to drive it into the decedent.
