Child killed in crash
A witness said the car came to rest pressed against an apartment building, its rear wheels off the ground. [LARA CERRI | Times]
ST. PETERSBURG — A 14-year-old driver hit and killed a 5-year-old boy Wednesday evening at the Pinellas Point Apartments in St. Petersburg.
Carlita Davis, 43, who lives in the apartment complex with her four sons, was sitting on her porch just after 7 p.m. when she heard the crash. She ran down to the scene and saw a blue Volkswagen Cabrio hit a concrete block wall for a second time, pinning the boy and causing the wall to collapse.
Davis tried to get the girl driving the Cabrio to put it in park, but instead the girl put it in reverse and hit the accelerator, backing the car up into an apartment building. The car came to rest pressed up against the building, its rear wheels off the ground.
Davis ran to the boy, who she knew from the apartment complex in the 2100 block of 62nd Place S. His head was injured and he wasn’t moving, Davis said. The driver of the car was a 14-year-old girl whose relatives live in the apartment complex, Davis said.
St. Petersburg Police confirmed that a 14-year-old girl obtained the keys to a car to retrieve some of her school books. It appears she decided to take the car for a drive back and forth in the parking lot, police said.
The name of the boy and the driver had not been released late Wednesday night.
"It’s tragic time and a sad time for both families," Davis said. "A mother lost a child and a child’s heart is heavy."
Davis said children like to play near the wall, often jumping over it. The wall was significantly damaged.
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Watch video from the scene