A 65-year-old Sarasota woman died Dec. 8 after being struck by an SUV while crossing Gulf Drive in Bradenton Beach.
Antoinette Pruss was hit while in a crosswalk in the 900 block of Gulf Drive North near the Gulf Drive Cafe at about 10:30 a.m. Dec. 8, said Bradenton Beach Police Lt. John Cosby. Pruss died later Dec. 8 at Blake Medical Center in Bradenton.
Pruss was in Bradenton Beach with her sister and brother-in-law.
BBPD identified the driver of the SUV, a 1998 GMC Yukon, as Kathleen Benison of Cortez.
As of Islander press time, no citations had been issued and the accident remained under investigation. Cosby said the review could last as long as 60 days.
Emergency personnel were dispatched to the scene at about 10:30 a.m. for a “vehicle accident with injuries.”
BBPD, as of Dec. 9, had no independent witnesses, but Pruss’ relatives, Benison and a passenger in her vehicle helped investigators learn what happened.
Cosby said the accounts indicate that as Benison reached the crosswalk, Pruss was stepping into the road.
Benison and her passenger were traveling north on Gulf Drive and, according to Cosby, had been admiring the view of the Gulf of Mexico.
“They were looking out at the water,” Cosby said.
The passenger saw Pruss at the crosswalk, in the bike lane, and shouted twice to Benison, who tried but failed to avoid striking the woman. Cosby said Benison then panicked and hit the gas pedal instead of the brakes.
“She admits they were distracted,” Cosby said of Benison. “But we just don’t know why (Pruss) just walked into the roadway.”
He said the preliminary investigation did not show that excessive speed was involved.
BBPD requested assistance from the Bradenton Police Department, which has software that can be used to reconstruct an accident.
Pruss’ death was the first pedestrian fatality in Bradenton Beach since July 1992. Cosby said he was not aware of another pedestrian death in a city crosswalk.