For onlookers, the sights and sounds of Tuesday's crash on U.S. 17 were traumatic.
“Commotion, everybody just went outside – so I followed out. Girl had been hit by a car. Was laying in the road,” Karen Smith said.
Smith and her husband own Cheyenne Saloon. The collision happened in front of their business.
They said they'd never seen the victim Christina Marino before.
We went by Marino’s parents’ home in Satsuma and learned she was a mother and a grandmother.
They were too shaken up to go on camera but did tell us she was loving and had been through a lot lately.
As for the 74-year-old driver who hit her, he was rattled as well.
“Really upset. On the verge of tears. We all tried to console him and assure him it was not his fault, but of course, he says that doesn’t make it better.”
The owner of the gas station where Marino was coming from said she was trying to charge her phone and left when she had no luck.
“The poor man didn’t even see her," said Smith.
FHP has ruled the crash an accident.
Last night, Christina Marino was struck and killed on Highway 17 in East Palatka. How her family remembers her, @ 5. pic.twitter.com/nYqpu2ZtCE
— Erica Simon (@EricaOnABC13) June 22, 2016
FHP is back at the crash site taking pictures. Christina Marino was hit just feet from this trooper. pic.twitter.com/47h3U2fST2
— Erica Simon (@EricaOnABC13) June 22, 2016
Marino was both a mother and grandmother. She lived in Satsuma. I spoke with her parents today, but they were too shaken to go on camera.
— Erica Simon (@EricaOnABC13) June 22, 2016
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