A blue sedan crashed through the glass front of a Winter Haven daycare on Monday, sending five children to the hospital after the car apparently collided with a bus first. The crash happened at The Children Of The King Enrichment Center at 1588 Havendale Boulevard, leaving the building's glass front damaged.
According to clickorlando.com, police believe the sedan ended up inside the daycare after first colliding with a Citrus Connection bus. The force of that impact pushed the car off the roadway and through the glass window of the enrichment center, as reported by wfla.com. The outlet also reported that everyone inside the building was accounted for after the crash.
Winter Haven Police Department officers and firefighters responded to the scene on Havendale Boulevard, according to Daily Ridge. Five children were taken to the hospital for evaluation for possible minor injuries, per the same account, which cited Jamie Brown. The sedan driver was also hospitalized, transported by ambulance with non-life-threatening injuries.
Conflicting Timelines and an Ongoing Investigation
Exact timing of the crash remains unsettled across reports. WESH reported the crash happened at approximately 11:13 a.m., while the collision between the bus and sedan was described elsewhere as occurring around 11:15 a.m. on Monday. The small discrepancy underscores how fast-moving the scene was in its immediate aftermath.
Police are still working to determine what caused the crash, WESH reported. WFLA reported that no information had been released about the circumstances surrounding the initial collision with the bus or the condition of the bus driver.
A Troubling Pattern at Florida Daycares
Monday's crash follows a similar incident just weeks earlier in Pine Hills, where a car plowed into a daycare facility in October, leaving five people hospitalized, including three children, according to WESH. In that case, a 79-year-old man driving a 2003 Honda CR-V crossed a median and struck Tattle Tales Learning Center on October 15, as reported by the Orlando Sentinel.
That Pine Hills crash sent the driver and an adult inside the daycare to Orlando Regional Medical Center, while three children were taken to Orlando Health Children's Arnold Palmer Hospital, all with non-life-threatening injuries. Orange County inspectors later shut the Pine Hills facility down, posting a condemnation notice on the building the following morning, the Sentinel reported. It remains unclear whether the Winter Haven daycare will face any similar closure or inspection in the wake of Monday's crash, as that detail has not been addressed by authorities.
