Truck kills man in wheelchair in Manatee County crash, FHP says

A pickup truck fatally hit a man using a wheelchair to cross a Manatee County intersection on Saturday night, Florida Highway Patrol said in a news release.

The crash happened around 10:53 p.m. at the intersection of U.S. 41 and Pearl Avenue, less than a mile north of Sarasota Bradenton International Airport.

Troopers say a 64-year-old Pinellas Park man in a wheelchair was at the northeast corner of the intersection when he began using the crosswalk to cross Pearl Avenue, moving south.

A Ford F-250 traveling east on Pearl Avenue was stopped at a red light, but the driver began to make a right turn onto U.S. 41 at the same time as the man was crossing, FHP said.

Troopers say the truck’s front left tire knocked the man out of the wheelchair and then ran him over. The Pinellas Park man died, the agency said.

The driver of the pickup truck, a 29-year-old Palmetto man, stopped at the scene of the crash, FHP said. He and his passenger, a 26-year-old Bradenton woman, were uninjured.

FHP’s Traffic Homicide Unit continues to investigate the crash on Sunday, the agency said.

This story was originally published June 22, 2025 at 10:39 AM.