POLK COUNTY, Fla. – A single-vehicle crash early Sunday in Polk County killed an 18-year-old driver and left his passenger with critical injuries, according to the sheriff’s office.
The crash occurred shortly before 1:30 a.m. on County Road 540A at Quail Ridge Drive. Around that time, a deputy that was responding to an unrelated call for service was flagged down by a resident who heard the wreck happen, the sheriff’s office said.
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Detectives reportedly determined that the crashed car — a 2008 Nissan 305Z — had been traveling eastbound at a high rate of speed before passing through CR-540A’s intersection with Scott Lake Road, at which point the driver allegedly lost control of the vehicle. The Nissan began to rotate and left the road off the southern shoulder, striking a large steel utility pole and ejecting both occupants.
Of the two occupants — both of them identified as 18-year-old Lakeland men — the driver was pronounced dead at the scene and his passenger was airlifted to a hospital for treatment of critical injuries, according to the sheriff’s office.
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The driver was the only one in the car wearing a seat belt, the sheriff’s office said, adding parts of the car were found about 150 feet away from the pole.
Eastbound lanes of CR-540A were closed for around five hours.
The sheriff’s office is still investigating.
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