Multiple serious accidents this week

A 16-year-old girl was seriously injured Friday (Mar.1) afternoon when the van she was driving crashed head-on into a Marion County Public Schools bus carrying dozens of students in northern Marion County, according to a Florida Highway Patrol press release. Two children on the bus were transported to the hospital. [supplied MCFR]

A 16-year-old girl was seriously injured Friday (Mar.1) afternoon when the van she was driving crashed head-on into a Marion County Public Schools bus carrying dozens of students in northern Marion County, according to a Florida Highway Patrol press release.

The crash injured the bus driver and two of the students onboard, the Florida Highway Patrol reports.

According to the FHP press release, the crash occurred around 2:20 p.m. when the van, headed northbound on County Road 315 , “crossed the center line and traveled northbound in the southbound lane of CR-315 causing a head-on collision“ with the bus carrying 36 students.

The girl driving the van suffered serious injuries and it was unknown if she wore a seat belt, the press release stated.

The 24-year-old woman driving the bus incurred “minor” injuries and two students on the school bus were “transported to a local hospital with injuries,” the press release stated.

The press release stated a second MCPS bus -behind the bus which was struck- was driven  by a 26- year-old man and carrying 33 students.

The second bus was struck by debris from the initial crash and no injuries were reported on second bus, the press release indicated.

A Facebook post by Marion County Fire Rescue indicates the crash occurred in the 12400 block of Northeast CR-315 in Fort McCoy and states the van driver was transported as a “trauma alert” and a total of four students were transported to a local hospital.

Units from the MCFR Fort McCoy Station responded to the crash and extracted the “minivan” driver and triaged students, according to the post.

Meanwhile, the FHP reported a 50- year-old Dunnellon man died and a 61-year-old woman from Morristown suffered minor injuries in a crash in southwest Marion County on Friday (March.1) night.

According to an FHP press release, the crash occurred around 7:35 p.m. when the unidentified man who was traveling west on Southwest 29th Street “failed to stop for the stop sign at U.S. Highway 41” and pulled into the path of the woman’s vehicle which was headed south on U.S. Highway 41.

Both vehicles involved were pickup trucks and the victim wore a seat belt while the other driver did not, the press release stated.

Responders from MCFR pronounced the victim deceased at the scene, the press release stated.

On Sat. March 2, a 40-year-old Ocala woman was located and arrested shortly after she allegedly fled a crash that caused the death of one man and injuries to another in southeast Marion County, according to the Florida Highway Patrol.

Mary P. Wise was booked into the Marion County Jail Sunday at 2:28 a.m. and charged with hit and run , (failure) to remain at a crash involving a death and (failure) to remain at a crash involving injury other than serious bodily injury, jail records indicate.

According to an FHP press release, the crash happened near the intersection of Spring Road and Spring Place in a “dark area with no street lighting”  just before 11 p.m. on Saturday  (Mar.2 ).

The area is perhaps a half of a mile east of the Heather Island Shopping Plaza ( Publix) on the south side of County Road 464 (Maricamp Road),

According to the FHP press release, a  49-year-old man on a pedal- cycle towing an 84-year-old man in a “motorized scooter” was headed east on Spring Road while Wise was headed west on Spring Road in a 2006 Chevrolet pickup.

The truck “struck the pedal-cyclist and scooter with its right front section,”and “fled the scene” headed west,
according to the press release.

The FHP press release stated the 84-year-old died and listed injuries to the 49-year-old man as “serious.”

The Marion County Sheriff’s Office “quickly located (the suspect) within the same neighborhood as where the crash had occurred, ” the press release stated,

FHP investigators went to the location and “positively identified” the vehicle due to parts which matched the crash scene and a residential video aided in the vehicle identification, the press release indicated.

Wise also faces a charge connected to property damage, according to jail records. She was held as of Sunday morning on no bond.