A Chevy Silverado driver stopped, got out, inspected his truck, looked at the woman he had just struck on her bicycle, and then drove away, leaving her injured on Fort King Road in Dade City. The 48-year-old Zephyrhills woman was reported hospitalized in stable condition as of October 1, six days after the crash, and Florida Highway Patrol troopers still have not identified the driver who fled.
The crash happened at roughly 2:23 p.m. last Friday, September 25, near the intersection of Fort King Road and Waldo Drive, according to an FHP report relayed by WTSP-TV. Troopers say a black Chevy Silverado pickup was traveling northbound on Fort King Road, south of Waldo Drive, when its passenger-side mirror struck the woman as it passed her bicycle, as reported by Tampa Bay 28.
FHP crash documentation reviewed by the Tampa Free Press indicates the mirror struck the cyclist directly in the head as the truck went by, a detail that helps explain the severity of her injuries. Per troopers, the driver did stop briefly afterward, stepping out to inspect his vehicle and look at the downed bicyclist before getting back in the truck and fleeing the scene.
Witnesses Describe Driver and Damaged Truck
Witnesses described the driver as a heavy-set Caucasian or Hispanic male, according to the original report from Tampa Bay 28. Crash evidence indicates the truck is a 2023-25 model Chevy Silverado fitted with a bed cover, and investigators note the vehicle is now missing its chrome passenger-side mirror cap — potentially a key identifying detail for anyone who spots a damaged Silverado in the area.
The woman suffered serious injuries in the crash and remains hospitalized in stable condition, the station reported. FHP is asking anyone with information, including possible roadside surveillance footage along the corridor, to come forward as the search for the driver continues.
What the Driver Could Face Under Florida Law
Leaving the scene of a crash that causes serious bodily injury is a second-degree felony under Florida Statute § 316.027, carrying up to 15 years in state prison, a $10,000 fine, and mandatory license revocation, according to legal information compiled by Sammis Law Firm. Those penalties were sharpened further by the 2014 Aaron Cohen Life Protection Act, which imposed mandatory minimum prison sentences for leaving fatal crash scenes and increased punishments for injury hit-and-runs, as Hoodline has previously reported.
Separately, Florida Statute § 316.083 requires drivers overtaking a bicyclist to maintain at least three feet of clearance, according to the Florida Sheriffs Association — a standard a mirror strike to the head would appear to violate on its face.
Pasco County's Place in a Troubling Statewide Trend
The crash lands Pasco County back in a conversation it has already been part of this year. A 2024 analysis of federal traffic safety data, reported by The Guardian, named Pasco County among seven Florida counties in the nation's top ten deadliest for bicyclists, alongside Sarasota and Manatee counties. Statewide, bicycle crashes rose 6.3 percent from 9,325 in 2024 to 9,914 in 2025, according to FLHSMV records analyzed by the law firm Swope, Rodante, even as Florida's overall hit-and-run crash total — 92,381 incidents in 2025, resulting in 180 deaths — dropped about 5.7 percent from the prior year; more than 157,000 injury crashes occurred statewide.
It is the second bicycle fatality-adjacent case in Pasco County that Hoodline has covered in recent days; a Hudson cyclist died crossing US-19 at SR-52 just days before this crash.
Anyone with information on the driver or the damaged Silverado is asked to contact FHP at *FHP (*347) or submit an anonymous tip to Crime Stoppers at **TIPS (**8477), per the Florida Department of Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles.
