Downtown St. Petersburg trolley crash injures woman

ST. PETERSBURG — A woman was critically injured Wednesday after a crash involving a Chrysler Pacifica she was driving and a trolley, St. Petersburg police reported.

The crash occurred at 10:05 a.m. at the intersection of Central Avenue and 16th Street North, police said. The driver of a trolley heading west on Central had a green light at the intersection. The trolley struck the left side of the Chrysler after that driver had gone through a red light at the intersection while traveling south on 16th Street North, police said in a news release.

Police said the Pacifica driver, who is a woman in her 70s, was taken to a hospital, where she was in critical but stable condition. A spokesperson later described her injuries as life-threatening. Her name was not released.

The intersection was closed after the crash as police investigated.

About a half-dozen passengers on the trolley went to the hospital with minor injuries, said Stephanie Rank, a spokesperson for the Pinellas Suncoast Transit Authority, which operates the trolley. Rank said a number of other passengers declined medical treatment on the scene.

Rank described the crash as a “t-bone” wreck and said the Pacifica was pushed into a number of parked cars after the impact.