College Softball Player Killed In State Road 52 Crash

HUDSON, FL — A 19-year-old Pasco-Hernando State College softball player was killed in a Monday night crash on State Road 52.

According to the Florida Highway Patrol, Scott Thomas Yutzy Jr., 22, of Lakeland was heading westbound on State Road 52 around 10 p.m. Yutzy was in the outside lane, just east of Chenwood Avenue, as Brooke Ashlee Gonzalez, 19, of Citra was walking westbound on a concrete sidewalk that runs along State Road 52.

Yutzy, a highway patrol report said, failed to maintain control of his 1999 Ford Escort and ran onto the sidewalk, striking Gonzalez.

Gonzalez suffered fatal injuries and died at the crash scene, the report said. Yutzy’s Ford also struck a guardrail. He suffered minor injuries.

Charges are pending further investigation. Troopers say alcohol was not a factor in the crash.

Gonzalez was a sophomore at Pasco-Hernando and was supposed to graduate in May, according to The Tampa Tribune.

“She was an exceptional person,” the paper quoted PHSC softball coach Tom Ryan as saying.

Photo courtesy of the Florida Highway Patrol

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