Florida Injury Lawyer Blawg
A sixth grader who was it by a car while walking away from her school bus died Thursday from her injuries, according to the Florida Highway Patrol.
The 11-year-old girl was dropped off by her school bus around 3:30 p.m. on Tuesday afternoon in Brooksville, a city in Hernando County about 50 miles north of Tampa, when a woman, 65, in a Toyota Corolla hit her. The child was walking north along the unpaved and unmarked road at the time of the crash, according to reporting from the Miami Herald. It was not immediately clear if the woman was speeding.
The child was taken to a local hospital with serious injuries. She died Thursday.
Additional details including identities of those involved or whether there could be potential charges
The Community Weighs In
Under a community advisory from the Hernando County Sheriff’s Office on Facebook warning drivers of road closures in the area as they investigated the scene, community members weighed in to express their concerns with speeding in the area.
“Eskimo Curlew needs speed bumps,” one woman declared in the comment section. “They fly down that street. And a stop sign about halfway through by Maycrest will slow them down.”
Another woman declared that the school bus stops in that area are a “nightmare.”
“There is not enough police presence because people are extremely comfortable blowing off [buses],” she said. I have come close to being ran over getting my kid off the bus more than once …”
There were about 2,600 crashes in Hernando County in 2024, according to the Florida Department of Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles’ Crash Dashboard, an online resource providing data on crashes throughout the state. About 45 people died in these crashes and 2,010 others were injured. Of the 45 people who died, six were pedestrians, the data showed.
In Miami-Dade County, where Leesfield & Partners has one of three offices throughout the state, there have been 1,218 crashes in 2025 as of Friday morning. In these crashes, at least two people have died and just under 600 have been injured. In 2024, there were 59,618 crashes with 283 fatalities and 29,168 injuries.
Leesfield & Partners
Leesfield & Partners, a 48-year law firm with numerous record verdicts and settlements secured for crash victims, has decades of experience successfully litigating pedestrian cases. Previously, the firm handled a similar bus crash case involving a minor who was severely injured by a speeding car after a school bus driver instructed him to cross the street. The driver was stopped in the wrong lane and did not ensure that traffic had an unobscured view of the children she told to cross the street that morning, violating state law. Her actions violated state law, Florida Statute §316.172(3), which states that school bus drivers must stop as far to the right as possible and display warning lights and stop signals before allowing students to disembark or board the bus. Additionally, a bus should not stop where visibility is obscured for 200 feet in either direction.
In this case, which was handled by Partner and Trial Lawyer Justin B. Shapiro, the driver was at fault for being in the wrong lane and for not ensuring that there was proper visibility when she told the children, including our client, to cross the street.
The child in that case suffered traumatic brain injuries that will follow him for the rest of his life. The firm secured a confidential settlement in that case.
The firm handled the case of another child who was needlessly injured due to a negligent driver. The child in that case was hit while he crossed the street and suffered a traumatic brain injury as a result. The firm secured a $1.2 million settlement for the child in that case.
Leesfield & Partners secured an $8.5 million settlement following a $27 million arbitration award for the death of a young woman who was crushed by a pickup truck while trying to cross the street. The woman, a wife and mother to two young children, was visiting Fort Myers from Toronto, Canada, with her family. The at-fault driver claimed to not have seen her while she crossed the street the day of the crash.
Another woman, who was also hit by a pickup truck, was walking back to her office during a midday break. As she walked across the street in the marked crosswalk, a pickup truck making an illegal left turn hit her. As a result, our client suffered multiple skull fractures, brain hemorrhages and injuries to her left leg. She was left unconscious upon impact.
In that case, also handled by Mr. Shapiro, the maximum policy limits of $6 million was secured for the client.
The firm secured a $1 million recovery for a pedestrian who was killed in a bus accident.
Leesfield & Partners secured a $2.9 million recovery amount against a negligent driver for a pedestrian who was seriously injured in a crash.
The firm secured a $1.5 million settlement for a client who was walking on the sidewalk in front of a distracted driver’s car. The driver struck our client on the sidewalk because they were distracted by a cell phone and an obstructed sign. Data from the phone showed that the driver was using it at the time of the crash.
A pedestrian whose case was handled by Leesfield & Partners awarded $1 million for serious injuries stemming from a truck crash.
