Part of roadway closed for about five hours
One person died early in the morning of June 7 after a vehicle struck a power pole on Beach Road, just west of the Midnight Pass Road intersection on Siesta Key, the Sarasota County Sheriff’s Office reported.
The incident occurred near Siesta Public Beach, the Sheriff’s Office alert added. The 911 Dispatch call log cited the location as 777 Beach Road.
The Sheriff’s Office advisory was issued at 2:08 a.m. on June 7.
WFLA-TV in Tampa reported that the 23-year-old driver was killed, while a passenger, also 23, was critically injured. “The vehicle was traveling at a high speed,” and the driver lost control before the crash, the Florida Highway Patrol said, according to the TV station. “The car overturned,” the WFLA report noted, and the driver was ejected.
WFTS-TV in Tampa noted in its report that troopers said the driver was speeding east on Beach Road, near the Avenida Del Mare intersection, when he approached a curve and lost control. The car left the road and hit the utility pole and a tree, the WFTS report added. The driver was not wearing a seatbelt, but the passenger was, WFTS added. The passenger was taken to a local hospital for treatment, WFTS said.
Both the eastbound and westbound lanes of Beach Road were shut down while the accident investigation was underway, the Sheriff”s Office advisory noted. Motorists were asked to avoid the area.
The Highway Patrol took the lead in the investigation, the advisory said, with the Sheriff’s Office’s providing assistance.
The roadway finally reopened at 7:24 a.m. on June 7, a follow-up advisory noted.
A late-December 2020, single-vehicle crash into a utility pole, which occurred close to the same area as the June 7 accident, resulted in the death of the 24-year-0ld driver, the Highway Patrol reported then. In that case — which occurred about 1:30 a.m. on Dec. 25, 2020 — the Highway Patrol said that the man failed to negotiate a curve and then drove off the road and hit the pole.