PORT ST. LUCIE — St. Lucie County Fire District crews were called Wednesday morning to a crash involving a school bus with children on board and a small car, a fire district spokeswoman said.

No injuries were reported in the crash, officials said.

The bus had 15 children aboard and was headed for Parkway Elementary School, according to Janice Karst, director of communications for St. Lucie schools.

Crews were called at 7:39 a.m. to the incident at Southeast Walters Terrace and Southeast Ocean Lane, Fire District spokeswoman Catherine Chaney said.

No other information was immediately available.

FORT PIERCE — A man in his early 20s was taken to a local provisional trauma center in critical condition after being hit Sunday night by a compact car, a St. Lucie County Fire District spokeswoman said.

Crews were called to the incident at South 13th Street and Kentucky Avenue about 11:30 p.m., Fire District spokeswoman Catherine Chaney said.

The man was taken to a local provisional trauma center in critical condition, Chaney said.

No one else was injured in the incident.

A flight instructor injured in Friday’s plane crash was identified by federal officials Monday and has been released from a local hospital.

James K. Ross was treated at Lawnwood Regional Medical Center and Heart Institute in Fort Pierce after the crash. His student, Avinash Kumar, remained Monday at Holmes Regional Medical Center in Melbourne.

A crash investigator for the National Transportation Safety Board identified the men Monday.

When the Piper Seneca crashed into a tree south of 12th Street near 34th Avenue in the Sun Villas subdivision, Ross and Kumar were conducting touch-and-go maneuvers, where the plane lands and then pulls up, Federal Aviation Administration spokeswoman Kathleen Bergen said.

This story will be updated with more information when it becomes available.

WPTV reporter Bryan Garner contributed to this report.

JENSEN BEACH — Florida Highway Patrol investigators are asking for the public’s help in identifying a hit-and-run vehicle involved in a fatal, early morning Jan. 31 crash, the FHP stated in a Wednesday release.

James Dennis Coutu, 43, was riding a motorcycle north about 2:15 a.m. on U.S. 1 south of Jensen Beach Boulevard. Coutu’s Kawasaki motorcycle struck the back of a vehicle traveling ahead of him, and he was thrown from the motorcycle.

A dark colored sedan hit Coutu, of Port St. Lucie, as he was in the roadway before the sedan turned east on Jensen Beach Boulevard.

A white van passed through the scene seconds later.

FHP investigators ask that anyone with information about the hit-and-run vehicle and witnesses to the crash to call Corporal P.J. Wyatt at (772) 468-3967 ext. 216 or Treasure Coast Crime Stoppers at (800) 273-TIPS.

VERO BEACH — A Stuart man was killed early Saturday morning in a two-vehicle accident at the intersection of Eighth Avenue and 21st Street, according to Vero Beach police.

A preliminary investigation into the 12:44 a.m. accident indicates Joshua Mulhern, 26, of Port St., Lucie, was northbound on Eighth Avenue in a 2002 Kia and failed to yield the right of way to a 2002 Chevrolet truck driven by Jason Hatley of Sebastian that was westbound on 21st Street, according to a police news release.

The truck hit the side of Mulhern’s vehicle, instantly killing the passenger, Geoffrey Robbins, 28, of Stuart, police said.
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Blanca Juarez

The Florida Highway Patrol charged Blanca Idalia Juarez, 25, of the 500 block of 13th Place, Vero Beach, with driving while under the influence, two counts of child neglect and two counts of battery on a law enforcement officer. She posted $12,500 bail Sunday.
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PORT ST. LUCIE — A motorcycle rider was flown to a provisional
trauma center early Monday after a crash at Southwest Alcantarra and
Southwest Port St. Lucie boulevards, a St. Lucie County Fire District
spokeswoman said.

Fire district crews responded at 2:08 a.m., and found the motorcycle
rider, a man in his early 40s, on the ground near the motorcycle, Fire
District spokeswoman Catherine Chaney said. (more…)

Four months and nine days after three teenagers died in a middle-of-the-night crash on Cove Road, we know few details about the final moments of their lives.

What has been confirmed: All of the young men were drunk; their Jeep Grand Cherokee was speeding; and they collided with a front-end loader in a construction zone.

Beyond that, rumors have flitted around about where they partied that night — perhaps at a Palm City kegger, perhaps at a Stuart bar — but not a word has been publicly confirmed by law enforcement.

Soon, we will find out how much of the hearsay is true.

Florida Highway Patrol is in the final stages of reviewing its investigation into the accident, which killed Nicholas Coady and Christopher Briglio, both 18, and 16-year-old Connor William Graver. It expects to hand over its report to the state Attorney’s Office in the near future, said FHP spokesman Lt. Tim Frith.

What took so long?

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FORT PIERCE — A 26-year-old Coral Springs man died and a baby was in critical condition following a Tuesday night crash on Interstate 95 that also injured three others, according to the Florida Highway Patrol.

Northbound I-95 traffic was diverted onto Okeechobee Road for about 4 1/2 hours following the 10:21 p.m. crash, which happened in the area of Okeechobee Road.

Chad Joseph Demarco, who died in the incident, was driving a 2009 Nissan Murano north with three passengers, including Braniah Brown, almost 8 months, of Deerfield Beach. Demarco, “(f)or reasons yet to be determined,” stopped in the center lane and activated the hazard lights, an FHP release states.
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SAVANNAH, Ga. — A Fort Pierce man died Tuesday afternoon after the motorcycle he was riding crashed on a Georgia highway, according to Savannah-Chatham police.

At 3:25 p.m., first responders were called to the westbound lanes of Georgia 204 near Interstate 95 on a report of two people injured in a motorcycle crash, the Savannah Morning News reported. (more…)