TBO.com - TBO is Tampa Bay Online

Deputies: Seat Belts Not Used In Sunday Polk Fatal Wreck

ADVERTISEMENT

By JOSH POLTILOVE | The Tampa Tribune

Published: February 9, 2009

Updated: 02/09/2009 12:49 pm

Related Links

• Previous Coverage
• Sign The Guestbook
• Photo Gallery

Candra Michelle Rittenhouse

Sara Smith

Neither the stepdaughter of a Polk County firefighter nor the stepdaughter of a Winter Haven police officer was wearing a seat belt when the teenagers were involved in a fatal wreck Sunday morning, Polk County deputies said today.

The police officer's stepdaughter died Sunday, and the Polk firefighter's stepdaughter was seriously injured when their vehicle hit a power pole and rolled over in Winter Haven.

Candra Michelle Rittenhouse, 17, of Winter Haven, was taken to Tampa General Hospital in critical condition and later died, the Polk County Sheriff's Office said.

She was the stepdaughter of Winter Haven Police Lt. Joey Yeako.

She and Sara Kay Smith, 16, of Winter Haven, were thrown from the 1991 Nissan Pathfinder they were in when it left Winter Lake Road between King and Crystal Beach roads, hit the power pole and landed on its roof.

Smith is the stepdaughter of Polk County firefighter Elvis Triado, the sheriff's office said.

The Pathfinder belongs to Smith, but deputies haven't determined who was driving when the crash occurred, deputies said today.

"The investigation is ongoing, which means, there has been no specific contributing factor identified in this crash just yet, and to suggest a specific factor at this point in the investigation would be careless," a sheriff's office news release states today. "As more information becomes available it will be released."

Smith was pulled away from the vehicle just before it was engulfed in flames and told deputies another girl had also been in the Nissan. She was flown to Tampa General and is in stable condition, deputies said today.

Reserve deputies came across the wreck about 2:25 a.m. Sunday.

A K-9 unit from the Winter Haven Police Department found Rittenhouse about 50 yards from the vehicle.

Deputies do not know which girl was driving or why the vehicle left the road that was closed for five hours during the investigation.

Sunday's crash is similar to a Dec. 29 crash that took the lives of Aldeir Mayorga and Troy Christopher Cockrum, both 17 and students at Lake Region High School.

Mayorga lost control of the 2001 Nissan Altima the boys were in on State Road 540 at King Road about 10:20 p.m., the Florida Highway Patrol said. The Altima rotated clockwise, traveled onto the south shoulder, struck a raised curb and hit a utility pole.

The Altima split in two from the impact, according to the highway patrol. Neither Mayorga nor Cockrum was wearing a seat belt.

The boys, who were best friends, died at the scene.

Share this:

Loading Comments...

Email Print

ADVERTISEMENT