9-year-old girl dies after crash in San Carlos Park

A 9-year-old girl has died after being injured in a crash in San Carlos Park Thursday night.

According to the Florida Highway Patrol, a 27-year-old Fort Myers man was pulling into the driveway of a home in the 18000 block of Phlox Drive in his pickup truck around 6 p.m. The girl was in between two parked vehicles in the same driveway before she entered the path of the pickup, which struck her. She was transported to Gulf Coast Hospital in critical
condition and was declared dead later that night.

The crash investigation is ongoing.

“I can’t even imagine… to think how the parents must be feeling right now,” said Jake Welter, who also lives along Phlox Drive. “That’s traumatic.”

Neighbors who live along Phlox Drive say there are tons of kids and families in this neighborhood.

“Yes, I see school buses dropping off kids picking up kids all the time, a lot of kids walk around, and up and down the streets,” Welter said.

Another neighbor said her security camera capture the whole ordeal. Investigators now have that video and are reviewing it.

The Florida Highway Patrol no longer releases the names of people involved in traffic crashes, citing Marsy’s Law.