A crash involving an All-Terrain Vehicle yesterday resulted in the death of one person and serious injury to four others. Florida Highway Patrol reports indicate 16-year-old Parker Wayne Williams was killed when he was thrown from the Polaris he was riding in with four other people.
According to reports, 20-year-old Owen Louis Mack was driving the side-by-side and failed to make the curve on Grand Concourse east of Mathes Road. The vehicle flipped several times, ejecting all the occupants. Mack, 19-year-Andrew John Massung, 17-year-old Matthew Ryan Palmer and 17-year-old Dylan James Feickert all were taken to Highlands Regional Medical Center in serious condition.
Williams was pronounced dead at the scene. Charges in the incident are pending.
While slain Highlands County Sheriff’s Deputy William Gentry has been laid to rest, his dogs live on and still need care. Gentry’s family has set up a fund at the Sebring Animal Hospital for the officer’s retired K-9 as well as three other dogs he cared for.
Donations to that fund can be made directly to the Sebring Animal Hospital on Highway 27 South.
A Florida man working for a state prosecutor abruptly resigned amid questions about whether he was flashing his lights and driving his car as if he were a police officer.
Sam Cardinale resigned from his job as executive director for office of State Attorney Brian Haas after he admitted he had been stopped by a Lake Hamilton police officer. Cardinale was not a law-enforcement officer.
Police were searching for a Ford Crown Victoria that had been flashing police lights, driving aggressively and honking at other drivers.
Lake Hamilton Police Chief Michael Teague said Cardinale was allowed to drive away after he told the sergeant he worked for the State Attorney’s Office and showed his credentials. No report was filed, because Teague said there was “no wrongdoing” when he was stopped.