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Authorities ID Teen Killed By Car


By MIKE WELLS
The Tampa Tribune

VALRICO - Officials today released the name of a 16-year-old Bloomingdale High School student who was killed when she stepped into oncoming traffic.

Lindsey Brook Rutledge joined a growing list of Hillsborough County students killed in automobile-related accidents this school year.

Investigators said she stepped into a busy intersection at Lumsden and Valrico roads at 5:19 p.m. Tuesday and was hit by a car, Hillsborough County sheriff’s spokeswoman Debbie Carter said.

A 1998 Chrysler, driven by Durant High School student Zachary Quaid Carroll, 16, was headed west on Lumsden through the intersection when it hit the girl, officials said. No charges have been filed against Carroll.

Rutledge was apparently out jogging and did not have any identification on her, Carter said. Detectives learned her name after her parents called the sheriff’s office after she hadn’t returned home and they heard of the fatality, Carter said.

At least eight students have died as a result of automobile-related accidents this school year, said Hillsborough County School District spokeswoman Linda Cobbe.

On Wednesday, the district sent crisis counselors to each teen’s school, she said.



Maybe if the county would invest in some street lighting these things could be avoided.  Have you ever seen how dark it is in Brandon at night?  I admit that I don’t know if this intersection has adequate lighting but I can tell you that major roads aside from 60 DO NOT have adequate, if any, lighting.  This needs to be addressed.  And then maybe the Sheriff’s Office should staff more patrol deputies to police the roadways.  Brandon has become a speeders haven where I am frequently passed by everyone from the soccer mom to the teen race car driver.  In Brandon, I see more red light runners, speeders and general traffic violators then anywhere else that I travel in the Tampa Bay area.  Bottom lin eis that we all need to be more cautious when we are out driving our cars, hence the ultimate responsibility of operating a 2000+ lb piece of machinery.  God Bless the family of the young girl.  This could have been avoided.

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