Light-up McIntosh December 15
Light-up McIntosh will begin at the Civic Center at 6:30 p.m. The event will host Santa Clause and an area choir from six local churches will sing.
12.21.06 -- BREAKING NEWS: Pedestrian hit by car on U.S. 441
Thursday, December 21, 2006
By CHER PHILLIPS
An unidentified** pedestrian was hit by a car this evening while crossing U.S. 441 after making a purchase at the McIntosh Grocery store.
About 6:00 p.m. tonight, a man witnesses say was in his 60's, was struck by a silver Toyota in front of Richard Shutterly's warehouse, almost directly under a nonfunctional streetlamp.
Gina McGehee, a nurse working for Shands in Gainesville, was one of the accident witnesses, who stayed with the victim until emergency personnel arrived.
"I bet he crosses here all the time and didn't realize it was darker than it usually is," McGehee said.
She said she saw the man crossing from the grocery to the west side of McIntosh as she was passing the grocery store. She said, in her opinion, he walked as if he had had a stroke in the past. A dark brown cane, as well as other items were left at the scene of the accident.
McGehee said she drove as far as Avenue E when she heard the Corolla, which had been going south, hit the man in the highway's southbound right lane.
The windshield of the car was heavily spidered and bore the impression of the person hitting the car. The driver, whose name is not known, remained in her vehicle.
McGehee said that she wasn't sure the driver, an older woman, could move because she was so shaken. The nurse said the driver moved only to hold her hand while she prayed with her. The driver asked McGehee and Carleton Bouette, another witness who is staying in Sportsman's Cove in McIntosh and works south of Reddick, to call her husband.
Marion County Fire Rescue arrived about 6:13 p.m. and took over where McGehee and other witnesses left off. At the scene, McGehee told emergency personnel on the phone that she thought the victim had compound leg fractures. His legs were secured in splints before he was transported to Shands in Gainesville.
None of the McIntosh residents at the scene knew the victim. Sue, who works at the McIntosh Grocery, said he had a wallet with him when he came in to purchase several packages of Advil. The victim's Krispy Kreme donuts, package of Oreos and his left tennis shoe remained at the scene.
Several locals jumped in to help out. Joey Ship, of Boardman, was just leaving the grocery when the accident happened. He said he works security for Shands and just wanted to help out. He and several other unknown people directed traffic until the Fire Rescue could finish attending to the victim.
Florida Highway Patrol arrived about 6:45 p.m. and at this time, their central office officially have no information about the accident at this time.
** I've been contacted with some information about the unidentified victim, but until we know that his family has been contacted, I'm not going to post his name.
Update: 12/22/06 - 8:36 a.m. FHP said that the victim was in critical condition last night. It is still unknown whether the family has been notified, but the victim was living in McIntosh and renting a home on the West side of town.
posted by Cher @ 8:03 PM,
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Editor
Editor and Publisher:
I'm Cher From McIntosh, FL I'm a graduate student at the University of Florida working on a master's degree in Mass Communication. While I was finishing my undergrad degree in journalism last year, I reported on McIntosh, Fla. for an in-depth reporting class. I figured that the reporting and the public record files should go somewhere people can access them. Reporters don't report to keep the information they find to themselves. Some of that reporting is included here in a forum that allows response. McIntosh suffers because with no news coverage, the local government and the rumor mill have too much potential to run rampant over residents. I moved to McIntosh in the fall of 1999. My profile
About This Blog
The primary purpose of this blog is to accurately reflect what happens in town public meetings and dispel rumors. I record the meetings and make them available for download. One of the goals of this blog is to offer residents a place to voice opinions. The comments, views and opinions expressed there are not necessarily those of the editor.
