A heart-wrenching tragedy unfolded Saturday evening just south of Old Lakeport Road, where a family of four was involved in a devastating crash along State Road 78 near Fisheating Creek. Two young children, ages 5 and 7, were killed in the crash — just one day before Mother's Day.
Florida Highway Patrol said the family's vehicle was heading north when it hydroplaned and collided with another car traveling southbound. The impact forced the family's vehicle against a concrete bridge rail.
Two passersby — sisters Briana Leavy and her sibling — saw the wreck and stopped to help.
“I just want them to send their prayers, for the mom and dad, especially for this mother,” Leavy said in a phone interview. “It is Mother's Day. She lost her children a day before Mother's Day.”
Leavy, a nurse from Moore Haven, described the scene as chaotic and heartbreaking. She recalled working to extract one of the children from the damaged vehicle.
“The left side of the car was messed up — the back, the front. We had a hard time getting the door open,” she said. “I lifted him from his bottom and leg to push him out the window… He had a black shirt over his face because they were trying to rip the roof off.”
The FHP crash report stated the two children did not have their seatbelts on. On the contrary, Leavy insists that at least one of the children was restrained at the time of the crash because she says she had to untangle the 7-year-old boy from a seatbelt before handing him to EMS.
“People are blaming the parents, saying the kids didn’t have seatbelts on,” she said. “But I know what I saw — that’s something I’ll never forget.”
According to FHP, the two children were pronounced dead at the scene. The mother, who was driving the vehicle, sustained minor injuries. The father, however, was transported to a nearby hospital in critical condition. The driver of the second vehicle involved also suffered minor injuries.
As the investigation continues, Gulf Coast News has reached back out to FHP for confirmation on whether either child was wearing a seatbelt at the time of the crash and the father's condition.
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