Crash at the 466 Southern Trace Shopping Center.
 

Vehicle Crashes into Villages Publix | News Break

This happened just recently.

Drove past on my way somewhere around 4:30 PM and then later at around 6:30 PM. Lots of flashing lights in the evening and what looked like a news chopper up high.

I was in Publix and came out to seeing the accident just after it happened.

Two women were down on the ground and passersby and Publix employees were helping them.

One white car had his entire right side damaged with the side airbag deployed Another damaged car was down closer to Salon Jaylee.

The stop sign was run over and down and a good size topiary was smashed into pieces. There was a lot of car debris in the road.

The response time by the fire trucks and EMTs was impressive.

Some witness said they think one of the drivers had some kind of medical episode and lost control of their car.

I’m praying for all who may have been hurt.
The scene was very scary.

It appears the white car must have been broadsided by the Mercedes E-class Cabriolet, the Benz then went into the salon hope all survive ,in good condition--the Benz occupants will not be injured as a result of this accident if they had their seat belts on, after reading several reports--the Benz driver must have had a medical episode prior to the crash and is in critical condition

My Dad fell at the meat counter at that Publix a few years ago. He toppled backward and hit his head on a container behind him which saved him from his head slamming against the floor.

The Public staff helped him a great deal especially the floor manager on duty at that time.

He had fallen a year or so after that in the Publix parking lot and an Orlando area nurse who was parked next to him and helped him a great deal as she had medical supplies in her car. She worked in the Orlando area but lived near the Villages.

Hats off to the Publix staff for helping in these situations.

I have taken over doing all the shopping now. My older brother helps once in a while too when he is on one of his 4 visits or so he makes to the Villages each year.

Car crashes into Publix in The Villages; 6 hurt

The Villages Daily Sun has a very short article about this accident as well on page A5 in the March 3, 2020 paper.

And the other Villages news site has some information.

Be advised, Publix has no outdoor cameras to record any type of incident. My wife was attacked by a woman, slapped and pushed down right in front of the store. We filed a police report but the state atty. chose not to pursue a prosecution due to no visual record of the attack. Witness statements were taken on the scene to no avail. I talked to the store manager and asked why no cameras. He stated it will not happen unless the store goes through a renovation. Be careful there.

The other "news" site has about the same information and plenty of wiseacre remarks about drivers in The Villages, most especially the older drivers. Why do these people come here and then complain about golf carts and old people? :swear:

I had been to Publix only minutes before this happened. I hope everyone recovers. Prayers going up for all involved. Kudos to all those who pitched in to help. For all the naysayers, there are still some pretty incredible, compassionate people here.:pray:

About ten years ago in Baltimore my mother was coming out of a Shop-Rite Grocery Store and was on the sidewalk outside under roof, very similar to Publix. She tripped on the curb stepping down and broke her hip and was taken away in an ambulance. The next day I had two lawyers call. One from Shop-Rite wanting to know how much it would cost to settle and another lawyer wanting to represent my mother with her injuries. I guess they have informants at the hospitals. I told them both, I wasn't interested in any money, the Shop-rite lawyer called 3 or 4 times, I guess they couldn't believe we didn't want to sue.

After this experience, I find it difficult to believe that Publix didn't want to get involved in an altercation that happened almost on the store's premises as you described. I also can't believe the police would do so little. I think if you gave an interview to The Villages News or posted your story online on this site and Facebook, you might of gotten some attention.

WESH Channel 2 had a reporter at the scene in Southern Trace.

Car crashes into Publix in The Villages; 6 hurt

You all make it sound like it's Publix's responsibility to have cameras on someone else's property. Remember Publix is a tenant. The plaza is not their property, they have no ownership or responsibility regarding what happens outside their walls UNLESS one of their own employees is directly involved, while on the clock.

If you want cameras to record activity in the parking lot or anywhere else outside the store, you need to ask the owner of the property to install them. I believe the owner of Southern Trace shopping plaza is the Holding Company of the Villages, LLC.

Why did you quote my post, I don't see any reason for your response to my post. I never mentioned cameras. I mentioned Shop-Rite, not Publix, and I told a story that released the merchant from any responsibility and took full responsibility for the incident in not suing. If you disagree with a poster, select that poster to quote.

Now that you mention it, cameras at Publix does sound reasonable. If you watched ID Channel, Investigation Discovery as much as I do, you wouldn't believe how many crimes are solved by cameras at Walmart. Not just on the premises, but the customer buying duct tape and a suit case at 2am.

How easily we forget, a few years ago two women walking on the MMP alongside 466 A, were killed by a driver who had a medical episode- its time for those who have medical problems to stop driving or at least get a vehicle with the latest technology that will automatically stop the vehicle
My trainer told me, one of his clients has a neighbor who moved here, because she is legally blind , had to surrender her DL, but drives a golf cart

The man who crashed Monday is a 55 year old from Oxford according to the few paragraphs in The Villages Daily Sun today in the Local Section. He did have a medical episode which caused him to lose control of his car.

Went to that Publix yesterday to pick up a few things. I go to a number of Publixes here in the Villages but this is the closest to Lynnhaven.

They are working hard to clean up the bushes that were damaged. And there were a number of workers outside of the Hair Salon.

This is a little off topic, but regarding cameras, I have been told by a long time resident here that the developers do have cameras in several areas, like the squares. They keep them more or less hidden. Anyone else hear that or know for sure? Would they have cameras in the shopping centers that are not general knowledge?

There are web-cams at each Square which you can access. They are not hidden.

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