STUART, FL — A woman and her three-year-old child were forced off the road and into a pond after a hit-and-run crash involving a semi-truck Thursday morning, authorities said.
The incident occurred around 9 a.m. on Kanner Highway when a semi-truck switched lanes and struck the woman’s vehicle, sending it off the road and into the water. Witnesses reported seeing the car veer into the canal upon impact.
The woman managed to escape the submerged vehicle and pull her child to safety. Both were taken to the hospital with minor injuries.
The truck driver, identified as 69-year-old Alton Winters of Florida, briefly slowed down but then left the scene to make a delivery at a local produce company, police said. He was later located by the Stuart Police Department and arrested.
Winters has been charged with leaving the scene of a crash with injuries and improper lane change.