Local woman killed in crash is identified

MANATEE — The family of Paige K. Sedgley was planning her funeral Monday.

The Florida Highway Patrol on Monday identified Sedgley, 40, as the driver who died in a four-car crash Saturday afternoon on Interstate 75 near Prime Outlets-Ellenton, not very far from her shady suburban home.

The crash left four others seriously injured and a 2-year-old child with minor injuries, according to a report issued by the Florida Highway Patrol. They were taken to Bayfront Medical Center, St. Petersburg, and Manatee Memorial Hospital, Bradenton.

Altogether, the cars involved in the crash carried 10 people, the FHP said.

Sedgley was pronounced dead at 4:49 p.m., at the scene, the report said.

She was the wife of David Sedgley, a firefighter for Southern Manatee Fire Rescue, according to its chief, Foster Gover, who said she was “a very nice lady.”

Paige Sedgley recently was honored with a silver medal for job skill demonstration as a participant in the 2009 National SkillsUSA Conference, an organization that serves trade, industrial and technical students and instructors, according to the Web site of the Manatee Technical Institute.

David Sedgley declined to speak about his wife.

On the shady porch of her home off State Road 64 near Rye Road was a sign that read: “A brave fireman lives here with the flame of his life.”

A friend of the family, Howard Montaque of Port Charlotte, said the couple had two sons.

FHP gave this account of what happened:

At about 4:35 p.m., Sedgley’s 2003 Toyota sport utility vehicle veered from the northbound lanes of Interstate 75, plowed along the center grass median, began to turn clockwise and traveled back onto the northbound inside and middle lanes before the driver overcorrected, sending the SUV again into the grass median, but this time, into the oncoming southbound lanes of traffic.

Sedgley’s SUV collided with three vehicles hurtling southbound, a 2008 Honda SUV, a 2004 Chrysler and a 2005 Ford.

After colliding with two of them, Sedgley’s SUV continued in the outside southbound lane into the path of another vehicle.

After impact, her SUV came to rest in the middle lane, while another car overturned on the west shoulder and came to rest on its right side, the FHP said.

An investigation of the crash is continuing, the report said.