Accidents Take Lives Of 3 Young Girls

Three young girls, ages 2, 4 and 13, were killed in separate accidents over 18 hours on Monday and Tuesday.
One was a West Hernando Middle School student, "the best friend you could ever have."
One was to be a new big sister the morning she died.
One was a "beautiful little girl."
It was a routine morning for sisters Danielle and Cheyenne Walker. Up at 5:30 a.m., gobble down some breakfast, then out the door for a short walk to the bus stop.
A hint of sunrise was lightening the sky as they met up with other West Hernando Middle School students at the corner of California and Narrow streets. It was still dark enough that the mailboxes across the street were only faint shapes.
The girls were chatting about school and baby-sitting when they saw a figure walking toward them on the road. They thought it was a friend named Jeff.
"Hey get out of the road," Danielle said she yelled.
The headlights came fast out of the darkness, swerving to avoid the walker. Tires shrieked. Someone screamed. A headlamp shattered.
The truck had scarcely come to a stop before the driver burst out and ran to the victim's side.
"Oh my God, I hit a kid," said the driver, who was "very distraught and upset," Danielle recalled.
The students rushed over. Someone was lying face down in the grass. A student on the phone with 911 rolled her over and began cardiopulmonary resuscitation.
The sisters suspected it was Kaitlyn Harper, a girl they've known since kindergarten, but the extent of her injuries made her unrecognizable. An arriving deputy confirmed it was Harper after searching through her backpack.
The girls sobbed when they discovered it was their friend.
"I couldn't breathe, I couldn't talk," said Cheyenne, 13. "It shocked me so much."
Danielle, 15, described the victim as a "friend we could always lean on."
The Florida Highway Patrol identified the driver as 52-year-old Mark Buel of Brooksville. He was not injured; charges are listed as pending.
Harper was taken to Brooksville Regional Hospital, where she died after the 6:45 a.m. accident. Her family declined an interview.
An hour later, at 8:10 a.m., a blue sedan stopped on Broad Street to make a left turn onto Palacky Street in Masaryktown.
The driver looked into the rearview mirror to see the fast-approaching grill of a dump truck. In the seconds it took to say, "Oh God, he's not going to stop," the truck smashed into the rear of the car, pushing it off onto the shoulder of the road.
Troopers say the truck did not slow or stop for the car ahead.
The crash was loud enough that Crystal Shores-Eggers heard the impact four blocks away on Garfield Avenue. She paused as a flash of worry gripped her.
Her mother-in-law, Susan Eggers, was returning from Spring Hill Regional Hospital with the children of a family friend who was delivering a baby.
Her husband's cell phone rang. It was his mother. Eggers' fears were confirmed.
They arrived before the deputies. Eggers' mother-in-law was dazed and badly hurt. The front passenger, 17-year-old Adam Eggers, was in better shape, but still injured.
Eggers was able to remove 3-year-old Laura Lee from the back seat of the car, but Laura Lee's sister, Haley Stalter, 4, wasn't moving. Medics rushed her to Spring Hill Regional Hospital where she died.
FHP says that the children were unrestrained; Crystal Eggers said the children were not in car seats, but they were buckled in.
Susan Eggers was flown by medical helicopter to St. Joseph's Hospital in Tampa, where she remains in critical condition Tuesday afternoon.
The driver, Franciso Hernandez, 46, of Tampa, was not injured. Charges are listed as pending.
Finally, the drowning of a 2-year-old girl late Monday afternoon is still under investigation. The girl's parents put her down for a nap and later discovered her in the backyard pool, according to the sheriff's office.
No one answered the door at 5432 Baldock Ave. on Tuesday. The neighbor across the street, Kelly Angelillo, described the victim, Candice Stone, as a "beautiful little girl."
Angelillo defended Candice's mother as a good parent.
"It's just unfortunate," she said.