Wesley Chapel woman killed, two children hurt in crash in Hernando County

A 53-year-old Wesley Chapel woman was killed in a two-vehicle crash in Hernando County Monday night, Florida Highway Patrol troopers reported.

The crash occurred about 9:15 p.m. at Powell Road and Birt Street. A 33-year-old woman from Wesley Chapel was driving a car eastbound on Powell when she appeared to turn onto Birt, but completed a wide U-turn and entered into the path of a sport utility vehicle that had been traveling behind her, troopers said.

The SUV, which was driven by a 49-year-old Weeki Wachee man, hit the side of the car. Neither the driver of the car nor the SUV were injured, but the 53-year-old passenger in the car was killed, troopers said.

A 15-year-old girl who also was a passenger in the car suffered serious injuries. A 1-year-old girl who was a passenger in the car had minor injuries, troopers said. Both are from Wesley Chapel.

Everyone involved in the crash, with the exception of the woman killed, was wearing a seat belt or child restraint device, troopers said.

Troopers arrested the driver of the SUV on a DUI charge, but didn’t release more details about the arrest.

Troopers did not release the names of the people involved due to the agency’s interpretation of Marsy’s Law, a voter-approved amendment to Florida’s constitution that’s meant to protect crime victims but deprives the public of information that had long been available under the state’s public records laws.