Man, 59, hit, killed crossing Cortez Road

MANATEE — The loud sirens and flashing lights brought residents near the 1800 block of Cortez Road out of their homes Monday evening.

When the 30 or so people arrived, they found the blanket-covered body of a pedestrian in the middle of the busy highway as Florida Highway Patrol cruisers and other emergency vehicles blocked off the road to vehicle traffic.

The Florida Highway Patrol this morning identified the pedestrian as 59-year-old Dennis L. Erlandson.

Erlandson, of Bradenton, stepped in front of a 1999 Ford pickup just before 6:30 p.m., while trying to walk across the busy road at 17th Street West, from the north shoulder to the south shoulder.

The driver of the truck was headed east on Cortez Road and could not avoid Erlandson, and he was pronounced dead at the scene, according to the FHP report. No charges will be filed against the 33-year-old Bradenton man driving the pickup, according to troopers.

Neither speed nor alcohol were factors in the accident, but the incident is still under investigation, troopers said.

As FHP troopers waited for officials from the medical examiner’s office, some in the crowd gathered at the scene talked about how dangerous it is the cross Cortez Road.

Several said there needs to be more street lamps to illuminate the roadway, others talked about the traffic congestion.

A Manatee County Sheriff’s Office deputy blocked traffic along the normally busy road, redirecting it south on 20th Street West through the Holiday Heights subdivision.

Traffic was being rerouted for a little more than an hour.