Car strikes teen girl on skateboard in Port Charlotte

PORT CHARLOTTE, Fla. — A teenage girl is in stable condition after suffering serious injuries when she was struck by a car Friday morning on Peachland Boulevard in Port Charlotte, officials said.

Jayda Poulin, 14, was riding a skateboard at the time she was hit, a Florida Highway Patrol official said. Poulin is being treated at Johns Hopkins All Children’s Hospital in St. Petersburg.

The collision blocked traffic for several hours on Peachland between Beacon Drive and Broadview Street, according to the Charlotte County Sheriff’s Office, but the road has reopened.

It was dark when the collision took place at 5 a.m., and the driver said he didn’t see the girl. He also said the girl wasn’t wearing a helmet. A friend who spoke with the driver shortly after the incident described him as distraught.

The girl was with friends, according to someone who lives nearby. That neighbor said he heard a thump when the collision took place. He knew then that someone or something had been hit and ran out to ask if anyone had called 911.

“There was this young girl laying there and her face was all bloody,” neighbor David Meadows said. “Another woman stopped and she laid down beside her to comfort her.”