PALM BEACH COUNTY, FL (BocaNewsNow.com) (Copyright © 2024 MetroDesk Media, LLC) — For the second time in just days, a person pushing a wheelchair was killed after being struck by a vehicle. This time it happened in West Palm Beach, where police tell BocaNewsNow.com that a man crossing Australian Avenue while pushing a wheelchair died after being hit by a tractor-trailer early Saturday morning.
“At 4:53 a.m. December 28, a 911 caller reported the crash at Palm Beach Lakes Boulevard and Australian Avenue,” said a police spokesperson. “ West Palm Beach police and fire departments responded, and paramedics rushed the pedestrian to hospital, where his condition rapidly deteriorated and he died at 8:02 a.m. The driver of the tractor-trailer was not injured.”
“Traffic Homicide Unit detectives have determined that a 2022 Kenilworth, driven by Joann Marie Cunningham, 62, of Palm Beach Gardens, was heading north on Australian Avenue approaching Palm Beach Lakes Boulevard, when a 65-year-old man (name witheld pending NOK), at-large, was crossing from east to west when he was struck. The pedestrian, pushing the wheelchair, entered the path of the semi south of the marked crosswalk when he was hit. The tractor-trailer had the green light. There are no charges pending and the investigation remains open.”
A hit and run crash last week in unincorporated West Palm Beach left another man pushing a wheelchair dead. The Palm Beach County Sheriff’s Office identified the driver a day after the incident. The investigation continues.
