POINCIANA, Fla. — Stop signs are being installed at a deadly intersection where a grandmother and her three grandchildren lost their lives after a 15-year-old crashed into them.
Nearly two weeks following the crash, crews begin to install new stop signs at San Miguel Road and Laurel Avenue in Poinciana, which hugs the county lines of Osceola and Polk Counties, according to CBS affiliate WKMG.
Neighbors and officials are hoping the new signs, which would make the intersection a four-way stop, will reduce wrecks and reckless driving in the area.
The outlet reports that Osceola County said it would be taking “immediate steps to expedite safety measures in anticipation of installing a four-way stop at the intersection.”
"I'm dying inside. I don't get to see my children anymore. I don't get to see my mother anymore," Sabrina Hernandez said in a previous report.
Hernandez had been anxiously waiting for her mother to return with her three young children — ages 1, 9 and 11 — ahead of a day off from school for Labor Day when she heard sirens.
According to Florida Highway Patrol, a 2012 Chevrolet Impala was speeding on Laurel Avenue, approaching a stop sign at the intersection of San Miguel Street. At the same time, a 2022 Honda HR-V was driving on San Miguel Street approaching the same intersection.
This was when the 15-year-old driver in the Impala blew through the stop sign and ended up crashing into the left side of the SUV, state troopers said. The crash sent the SUV into a grass shoulder before it collided with a light pole.
The driver of the SUV, identified by Hernandez as her 50-year-old mother, was pronounced dead on scene. The three kids died because of the crash, as well.
The teen driver accused of running the stop sign was taken to Osceola Regional Hospital with serious injuries while his three passengers – who were all also 15 – were taken to HCA Florida Poinciana Hospital with minor injuries.
10 Tampa Bay's Courtney Holland and David Belleville contributed to this story.
