POLK COUNTY, Fla. — A teenage girl is seriously injured after a driver hit her while she was sitting on a sidewalk Wednesday afternoon, according to officials.
The Florida Highway Patrol said the driver, a 60-year-old woman from Winter Haven, was traveling east on Avenue B Southeast approaching 6th Street Southeast around 12:39 p.m. The driver then became distracted by a "loud, unknown noise."
According to FHP, her vehicle then traveled partially onto an adjacent sidewalk and struck the 16-year-old victim, who was sitting on the curb.
The victim was seriously injured and was taken to a local hospital. The driver was uninjured.
A state report says hundreds of frail elderly nursing home residents were stacked side by side, head to toe in a small church with no working air conditioning or refrigerator during Hurricane Helene.
