Christmas Eve Crash: Three People Killed When SUV Struck Golf Cart In Pasco County, Florida

Three people are dead following a tragic crash involving an SUV and a golf cart in Pasco County, according to the ABC Action News.

On Christmas Eve around 2 a.m., the Florida Highway Patrol says 32-year-old Victor Valdez Jr. of Spring Hill, was traveling southbound on Monteverde Drive north of Saguaro Lane in his 1999 Jeep Cherokee when he suddenly slammed into the back of a golf cart, which was carrying four passengers.

The impact caused the 1995 golf cart driven by 23-year-old Scott Blair Wilson of New Port Richey to overturn, ejecting all four passengers, which included Jennifer Boudreau, 36, and Leah Marie Kurasz, 28, both of Spring Hill. The name of the 48-year-old third victim is being withheld until police officials notify next of kin.

Wilson was transported to the Regional Medical Center Baypoint Point with serious injuries while the other three passengers were pronounced dead at the scene.

The driver of the jeep was uninjured in the Christmas Eve golf cart crash.

The victims’ family were heartbroken after learning about the deadly wreck, saying their loved ones were taken away too soon.

Jennifer’s brother, Jeff Boudreau, told reporters that “it makes you angry, I don’t get to see my sister anymore.” He went on to say it’s “like a bad dream. When you get woken up like that — it wasn’t even by a phone call.”

“It was my dad sitting in my kitchen crying, telling me my sister was gone.”

“I see this and hear it all the time, but to experience it myself, it hurts,” said Jennifer’s father Gene Boudreau.

Christine Kurasz, who is Leah’s mother, remembers her daughter as a “free spirit. She loved life. She didn’t have many fears.”

Although she had a learning disability, her father said she “took it in stride. She felt God gave those to her so she could help others.”

A 35-year-old witness, Charisse Dyer, who ran low on tape to wrap Christmas gifts, decided to make a quick store run to Walgreens. On her way back home, she stumbled upon the horrific crash and called 911.

Dyer said when she got out of her vehicle to examine the accident, she said she saw three bodies in the road and immediately “knew something was wrong the second I got out of my car and nobody was making a sound.”

“You expect to hear somebody screaming.”

Max Roush, who lives on Monteverde Drive, stated that it is not uncommon to see Shady Hills residents riding golf carts or four-wheelers. He went on to say that on the day of the golf cart crash, he was outside helping his brother install a sound system in his car before going in the house.

Just 10 minutes later as he was “sitting inside the house and we heard an explosion, that’s what it sounded like.” Roush rushed outside to find a jeep turned on its side with the driver trapped inside, using pliers to break the window to escape.

He recalls running towards a woman on the pavement to help her but soon realized that she was dead.

Relatives say the golf cart had front headlights, but no tail lights and reminded them a few weeks ago to add lights but “they did not do that,” according to Jennifer’s uncle Dan DeSplinter.

“But let’s think for a minute, if they had went down to the store and put a light on it immediately, we would have had about an 80 percent chance of this not happening.”

The Florida Highway patrol stated that alcohol did not play a factor in the Pasco County crash and no charges have been filed.

However, an investigation is ongoing.

[Featured Image by NoJustice/iStock]