Articles labeled: st. petersburg

An eighth grader who decided it would be a great idea to drive her mother’s car in their apartment complex parking lot jumped the curb and pinned a 5-year-old boy to a wall, killing him. Now her dumb move has permanently affected several lives, including her own.

As police investigated, neighbors at the apartment complex where the accident occurred stood in shock. Some sobbed and shouted from second-floor balconies.

Others looked in disbelief at the crashed car, which had been driven over a curb and came to rest with its rear bumper pressed against the wall.

As the car was lurching forward, the teen struck a wall, knocking out several cinder concrete blocks, witnesses said. When she put the car in reverse, she struck the boy, who was sitting on a planter, said Jason Fields, 17, who lives at the complex.

What probably shocks us the most is how brazen this act was.

The Pinellas County Sheriff’s office said Branden Allen, 18, of St. Petersburg, Florida, a 16-year-old boy and a 15-year-old boy were arrested late Thursday on charges of sexual battery and false imprisonment.

Authorities say that on Tuesday at about 6:15 p.m., the three suspects and a female student at Dixie Hollins High School in St. Petersburg were aboard a bus that leaves the school late each day to transport students who play sports and take part in other after-school activities.

Allen boarded the bus, followed by the victim, who was taking a seat for a ride home, according to the sheriff’s office. Authorities say the two younger male teens then boarded the bus and acted as lookouts as Allen “sexually battered the victim despite her resistance and protestations.”