Florida Injury Lawyer Blawg

Published on: April 18, 2025

Golf Cart Driver in Tampa Killed After Driver Takes Red Light, FHP says. How Leesfield & Partners has Represented Victims and Families for 48 Years.

A 71-year-old golf cart driver died following a crash at a senior living community in which another driver took the red light, according to officials with the Florida Highway Patrol.

The woman died from her injuries around 8 a.m. Wednesday near Sun City Center, a 55+ community with chains in other states such as South Carolina, Texas, Nevada, Georgia and more. The woman had the green light when she was crossing Sun City Center Boulevard, a six-lane road, in a Yamaha golf cart.

A 31-year-old driver in a Ramp ProMaster van did not stop at the red light and hit the woman, causing a fatal T-bone accident, according to reporting from The Miami Herald.

Published on: April 18, 2025

Bus Driver Involved in Fatal Miami Gardens Shooting. What to Know About Violence on Public Transit.

By Leesfield & Partners

A bus driver accused in the shooting deaths of two passengers following an argument should never have had a gun on board the day of the incident, officials say.

“Transit operators are not allowed to be armed,” Juan Mendieta, a spokesperson for Miami-Dade’s Department of Transportation and Public Works, told reporters with The Miami Herald.

This rule prohibits drivers from taking firearms with them to work even if they are legally allowed to carry them, reporters said in the article.

Published on: March 27, 2025

Children Hospitalized on U.S. 1 Near Multi-Day Miami- Dade Wildfire

By Leesfield & Partners

Four people, including three minors, were hospitalized Friday following a crash near multi-day wildfires that raged on U.S. 1 in Miami-Dade.

The crash happened around 1 p.m. near Mile Marker 121 on U.S. 1, involving multiple vehicles. Three children and one adult were taken to local hospitals and one child had to be airlifted. No names or other identifiers have been released as of Tuesday morning.

In reporting from NBC 6 South Florida, reporters said that officials described at least two of the children as trauma patients.

Published on: March 27, 2025

Body Found at Palmetto Bay Construction Site. Police Investigating.

By Leesfield & Partners

Deputies with the Miami-Dade Sheriff’s Office are investigating after the body of a man was found at a bridge construction site Tuesday in Palmetto Bay.

Officials were called out to the scene, the construction site for the Southwest 87^th Avenue bridge over the Cutler Drain Canal, around 6:30 a.m. The body was found by a construction worker and reported to police.

The man was found in a ditch with water and was not wearing a shirt when he was found.

Published on: March 17, 2025

Elderly Rhode Island Man Accused of Sexually Abusing Minor at Florida Resort.

By Leesfield & Partners

A 72-year-old from Rhode Island has been accused of sexually abusing a child in a lazy river at an Orlando, Florida, resort, according to reporting from the Miami Herald.

William Francis Chatel faces charges of lewd and lascivious molestation of a victim under 12 years of age.

The first incident happened on March 9 when the girl said a man, later identified by police as Chattel, came up to the child and assaulted her at least twice over the course of her family’s stay at the resort, reporters said in the article. The child later reported the incidents to a parent who allegedly filmed him attempting to swim up to two other unaccompanied children in the lazy river.

Published on: March 17, 2025

Miami ‘BusPatrol’ Citations Cause Controversy Following Thousands of Citations. What to Know.

By Leesfield & Partners

A program meant to enforce school bus laws was met with outrage from thousands of drivers who were issued citations and prompted a response from the Miami-Dade Sheriff’s Office.

As of Friday, March 7, the program was suspended for citations given to those who passed school buses on roads with a median, according to a statement from Sheriff Rosie Cordero-Stutz, who took office in January 2025.

“When I became Sheriff, I ordered a review of the program,” Cordero Stutz said in the post Tuesday, March 11 via X. “The review led to me announcing last Friday the suspension of median enforcement citations.”

Published on: March 13, 2025

Field Near Miramar Elementary School Inadvertently Becomes Landing Strip for Small Plane. What to Know.

By Leesfield & Partners

A small plane crash-landed in an emergency at a field near an elementary school in Miramar Wednesday, according to WSVN in Miami.

The incident happened just after 1 p.m. near Coconut Palm Elementary School. Two people were on board but were not injured. While the plane did sustain some damage, the school’s property did not.

The school did not go on lockdown when the aircraft – a Piper PA-28, a plane typically used for flight training, air taxi and personal use – landed.

Published on: March 13, 2025

Elementary School Substitute Sicks Mob of Children on Classmate in Florida, Now She Faces Criminal Charges.

By Leesfield & Partners

A substitute teacher is accused of asking multiple students in her elementary school’s classroom to hit another child, then allowing the beating to take place.

Geanene Che’rrie White, 57, was charged March 1 with one count of child abuse and four counts of contributing to the delinquency of a minor. White’s child abuse charge is a third-degree felony that, if convicted, could result in a five-year prison sentence and/or a $5,000 fine. Contributing to the delinquency of a minor is a first-degree misdemeanor that can carry a penalty of up to one year in jail, a year of probation and/or a $1,000 fine.

The incident happened while White was subbing for a class at YMCA Tiger Academy, an elementary school in Jacksonville, Florida, on Feb. 12. As she was asking the class to separate into small groups to complete their work, one student did not cooperate.

Published on: March 13, 2025

Medical Examiner Concludes Detroit Children Found Dead in Frigid Van Died of Carbon Monoxide.

By Leesfield & Partners

A Detroit medical examiner concluded that two unhoused children found dead in their family’s van died from carbon monoxide and not the cold, as authorities initially believed.

The official cause of death for the children, 9-year-old Darnell Currie Jr. and 2-year-old A’millah Currie, was certified Wednesday. On Feb. 10, the children were found unresponsive in the family van by their mother after the vehicle stopped running. The children, their mother, their grandmother, two siblings and their mother’s sibling were allegedly living in the van at the time, according to reporting from The Detroit Free Press.

The five children in the van ranged in age from 2 to 13 years old.

Published on: March 4, 2025

Man Injured in Officer-Involved Shooting in Miami-Dade County. What to Know.

By Leesfield & Partners

A Miami detective shot a man at an apartment complex in West Miami-Dade County Wednesday night while conducting a “proactive detail” with a multi-agency task force, according to reporting from the Miami Herald.

The incident happened around 10 p.m. at 9599 Fontainebleau Blvd. Neither the man nor the detective, who investigates robberies, have been named as of Thursday.

The man is expected to be OK, a Miami Police Department spokesperson told the newspaper. The detective was not injured in the shooting.