Crime

Wrong-way driver crashes head-on with another vehicle, killing 98-year-old Manatee woman

A head-on collision due to a wrong-way driver killed a 98-year-old Manatee County woman on Lakewood Ranch Boulevard on Monday afternoon, according to the Florida Highway Patrol.
A head-on collision due to a wrong-way driver killed a 98-year-old Manatee County woman on Lakewood Ranch Boulevard on Monday afternoon, according to the Florida Highway Patrol. Submitted by John McGuire

A 98-year-old woman is dead after a wrong-way driver collided with the car she was riding in Monday afternoon, according to the Florida Highway Patrol.

Thelma Moore, who was from Lakewood Ranch, died at the scene when a Ford Escape traveling the wrong direction collided head-on with the Hyundai Santa Fe she was riding in.

Around 12:27 p.m., the Escape was traveling north on Lakewood Ranch Boulevard in the left southbound lane approaching the intersection of Endeavor Drive, troopers said.

Around the same time, the Santa Fe, which was driven by a 68-year-old man from Lakewood Ranch and had Moore in the passenger seat, was heading south on the Lakewood Ranch Boulevard in the same lane, approaching Endeavor Drive.

As a result of the Escape traveling the wrong way into oncoming traffic, troopers said, the two cars collided and ended up in the Endeavor Drive intersection.

The driver of the Escape, a 50-year-old woman from Sarasota, has serious injuries and was transported to Sarasota Memorial Hospital.

Charges are pending, troopers said.

Samantha Putterman: 941-745-7027, @samputterman

This story was originally published March 19, 2018 at 4:23 PM with the headline "Wrong-way driver crashes head-on with another vehicle, killing 98-year-old Manatee woman."

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