Highway Patrol report unavailable as of News Leader deadline this week
Just before 10 p.m. on April 7, a person riding an electric bicycle on Siesta Key was seriously injured after striking the rear of the Siesta Key Breeze trolley on Siesta Key’s Midnight Pass Road, the Sarasota County Sheriff’s Office reported.
The unidentified person was transported to Sarasota Memorial Hospital, Lt. Scott Mruczek reported.
Because of the federal health privacy law, the hospital does not release information about patients’ conditions, even when the news media can provide a name.
The Sheriff’s Office, which was assisting the Florida Highway Patrol, asked motorists to avoid the 6300 block of Midnight Pass Road as the investigation was underway.
When The Sarasota News Leader checked with county staff on April 8, Media Relations Officer Drew Winchester said Sarasota County Area Transit (SCAT) — under whose auspices the trolley operates — would decline comment on the incident. Winchester referred the News Leader to the Highway Patrol.
C.P.R. Medical Transportation LLC, which is based in Washington, D.C., has been handling the trolley service for since Aug. 29, working under the provisions of a contract with Sarasota County.
During the afternoon of April 13, the News Leader learned from an employee at the Highway Patrol Office in Venice that the accident report had been completed. However, the man explained that it had yet to be approved by a supervisor; therefore, the report was not available at that time. The agency’s policy allows a supervisor up to 10 days to sign off on a report, the man added.
The area surrounding the 6300 block of Midnight Pass Road is home to numerous condominium complexes on Siesta Key. It is north of the Stickney Point Road intersection.
The free trolley runs a continuous loop between Turtle Beach Park on the south end of the island and Morton’s Siesta Market in Siesta Village, on the northern part of the Key. The Breeze typically loads and unloads passengers at SCAT bus stops. Its hours are 8 a.m. to 10 p.m. each day.
Even with the trolley’s popularity, members of the Siesta Key Association have pointed out over the past couple of years that more and more visitors are renting electric bicycles for use in getting around the island.