5-year-old girl dies in Auburndale crash. Bartow man charged with DUI manslaughter
A Bartow man was charged with DUI manslaughter after a three-vehicle crash in Auburndale killed a 5-year-old girl and seriously injured two adults shortly after midnight on Friday morning.
The Polk County Sheriff's Office said Robert Harrison, 24, of Bartow, faces charges of DUI manslaughter, DUI with serious bodily injury, DUI with property damage, DUI and violation of probation related to a previous trespassing charge.
The crash happened about 12:10 a.m. at 2101 42nd St. N.W. in Auburndale. According to the detectives’ preliminary investigation, Harrison’s blue 1997 Ford F350 was traveling north on 42nd Street when it crossed the center lane and entered the path of a 2017 Dodge Caravan driven by Jacqueline Nichols, 32, of Auburndale. Immediately following the collision, a white 1990 Ford pickup truck, driven by Aaron Delgado, 21, of Eagle Lake struck Harrison’s Ford truck.
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First-responders found 5-year-old Madeline Nichols of Auburndale dead in the Dodge Caravan with full body trauma. Jacqueline Nichols suffered head trauma and internal bleeding, and was listed in critical, but stable condition. Another passenger, Justin Jones, 33, of Winter Haven suffered head trauma and several spinal fractures. He was also listed in critical, but stable condition. Delgado was uninjured.
The Sheriff's Office said Harrison admitted to a PCSO detective that he had been drinking alcohol prior to the crash. He provided two breath samples for testing, and the results were a Breath Alcohol Content (BAC) of 0.119 and 0.122, according to a PCSO press release. The legal limit is 0.08. He was treated and released from the hospital and arrested by traffic homicide investigators. He was in the Polk County Jail as of 1 p.m. Friday.
The road was closed for about four hours for the investigation.
This article originally appeared on The Ledger: Bartow man charged with DUI manslaughter after crash kills girl, 5
