Highway Patrol: Mother at fault in crash that leaves her, 7-year-old son in critical condition

A 7-year-old boy is in the hospital after his mother ran a red light and crashed into another vehicle. It’s confirmed the child was not wearing a seat belt in the back seat of the car at the time of the crash. Now, both he and his mom are in critical condition.

Wednesday night, state troopers responded to the crash at the intersection of Pondella Road and US-41 in North Fort Myers, where three vehicles were involved.

Crash investigators say a woman made a couple of bad decisions that could prove deadly, as both she and her son are holding onto life in the hospital.

Surveillance video that captured the crash shows a red light at the intersection and then the mother driving through the intersection, hitting a pickup truck and then a stopped car.

“It’s possible the mother was talking on the phone,” Lt. Greg Bueno said. “You can just see one mistake, and maybe she saw out of the corner of her eye the turn lane go or somebody else move a little bit and not paying 100% attention, and you proceed forward. Now, all of a sudden, you have a tragedy

Bueno will not release the names of the mother and her 7-year-old son inside the car. But he does say both are in the hospital in critical condition.

“The force you have between cars as they hit ones going maybe 40, the other ones going maybe 30,” Bueno said. “And now, all of a sudden, you have a lot of momentum, a lot of force. There, it’s going to cause injuries, and we want to make sure we have the best chance to survive.”

Bueno wants everyone to understand his warning.

“When you don’t wear a seat belt, you’re increasing the likelihood that you’re going to be ejected from the vehicle,” Bueno said. “Therefore, you’re crossing the likelihood that you’re gonna die.”