HOLMES BEACH – Deborah Trotter returned last week to the site of the May 12, 2023 accident that took the life of her mother, Miriam Trotter, to warn others of safety issues inherent in construction zones.
Trotter has avoided the intersection of Gulf Drive and Marina Drive since she and her 86-year-old mother were struck by an oncoming truck while in the crosswalk. On Feb. 28, she and her attorney spoke at a news conference there about what she said was a preventable tragedy if the onsite construction team had maintained proper safety precautions.
“This shouldn’t have happened and I would never want this to happen to anybody else,” Trotter said.
“This is all about the construction that’s going on not only in this area, and the contractors really need to start doing their job better,” said Trotter’s attorney, Douglas McCarron, of the Haggard Law Firm. “They need to make sure they’re not putting pedestrians and the driving public at risk.”
McCarron has filed a wrongful death negligence lawsuit on behalf of Trotter against the driver of the truck, Michael Ritchie, and C-Squared General Contractors, which was working on the intersection.
“On the day of the incident, May 12, the driver Mr. Ritchie had the green light, Deb and her mom had the signal that it was safe for them to cross to street and there was the crash that cost Miriam her life,” McCarron said. “You’re never going to be able to replace Miriam, you’re never going to be able to give Deb back the time she’s missing from her mom. But the fact is, she doesn’t want this to happen to anybody else. Contractors are responsible to keep people safe, it’s that simple. At the end of the day, we’re just trying to make sure this doesn’t happen again.”
“I remember the whole thing, we were walking from where we live at the Martinique two blocks down. Mom wanted to go to a painting class at the library that afternoon, and so we were walking, she was still getting her steps in, she walked about five miles every day,” Trotter said.
Trotter recalled hitting the button at the crosswalk and when it turned white with the walk symbol, she said to her mother, “OK mom, we can cross now.”
“As we stepped off the curb, I turned ever so slightly to say something to her – she was about a foot behind me – and when I turned I actually saw the truck in my face hit me. I remembered hearing the noise, my eyes closed, I went backwards,” Trotter said, holding back tears. “But the thing I remember the most is that was my mother’s last conscious breath right next to me. And she was… I never spoke to her consciously again.”
Trotter said as she lay on the ground paramedics asked who her mother was and said, “She’s in worse shape than you are, we’re going to tend to her first.”
The Trotters were transported to Blake Hospital, where Deborah was released later that day. Her mother was placed on life support and died five days later.
“My mom was my best friend, she was my hero,” Trotter said. “She was the light of our family, she was the matriarch, she loved life. Hard pressed to find her not smiling and she loved coming for long visits here on the Island. She was so happy to be here, and the fact that she’ll never be here again, I’ll never understand why she was killed.”
Trotter expressed the hope that the incident will be an awakening for contractors and visitors to the Island.
“It’s clear to me that it wasn’t safe that day, the lights at the intersection itself wasn’t safe,” Trotter said. “We thought it was, that’s why we used the crosswalk, it’s clear to me the contractors who were working on it for so long didn’t take the right safety precautions. It’s clear to me that the driver didn’t take the correct safety precautions to yield to pedestrians in a marked active crosswalk.”
McCarron said construction site safety is the responsibility of the contractor.
“Body-worn cameras by police and sheriffs show barricades and things of that nature were either down or weren’t in an area where you were walking up the street,” he said. “There were no signs, there was a sidewalk closed sign in the parking lot facing down and there was a sidewalk closed sign on the other side of the street facing that way. The maintenance of traffic is the responsibility of the contractor. There was no reason for anyone to think the sidewalk was closed.”
“This didn’t need to happen and she and I should be sitting on the beach right now watching the waves,” Trotter said.
“The police investigation was very clear that the signalization was wrong,” McCarron said. “My understanding is that the lights have been changed and when the sign says people can walk, every light is a red light, as it should be.”
