Photo: John Lamparski / Getty Images
A Florida driver killed a four-year-old girl and left another five-year-old seriously injured, after running over them in a playground in a preschool.
The woman who was driving a pickup truck, identified as Kiara Morant, aged , she crashed into a fenced-in playground where the two minors played at the Imagination Station Learning Center preschool in Arcadia, southeast of Tampa, Florida.
BREAKING 🚨
Kiara Morant is in the Lee County jail this morning. FMPD tells us she turned herself in around 5 am for her de ella new charges from FHP after driving through a daycare fence in Arcadia, killing 4-year-old Maleena Valdez and seriously hurting a 5-year-old. pic.twitter.com/0q8tAof9tp
—Taylor Petras (@TaylorPetras) March 18, 1200
The 4-year-old girl, who died, was identified as Maleena Valdez. The little girl’s family started a GoFundMe campaign to raise funds for funeral expenses, Fox reported 03.
“All she was doing was playing on the playground. We just want her back. We want her back,” said Josephine Valdez, the grandmother of the girl who was killed.
According to the incident report, the female driver, who did not have a valid driver’s license, was driving down East Magnolia Syreet in a Jeep pickup truck Cherokee, while driving over a raised concrete curb, collided with a sign, went over the sidewalk and collided with the fence of the preschool.
The authorities reported that the truck then went to the playground, where it hit other wooden support posts. The two minors who played in that place were run over by the Jeep, which finally stopped when it crashed into a tree , The Post reported.
Valdez was transferred to the Gulf Coast Hospital medical center, where she lost her life , while the five-year-old girl was taken to DeSoto Memorial Hospital in serious condition due to her injuries.
The woman driving the vehicle sustained non-life-threatening injuries her. She was pulled over for not having a valid driver’s license. Morant was released from prison on bail before the girl died in hospital, so officials indicated she can face additional charges .
“At this time, this driver is facing multiple felony charges, based on simply in the fact that he did not have the proper license”, agent Ken Watson told FOX 03. “She flat out shouldn’t have been behind the wheel at the time.”
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