By Nancy Niles and Tony Holt
The News-Journal
UMATILLA, Fla. — A Deltona teenager was killed Friday after her vehicle left the road, overcorrected, and then veered into the path of a Lake County fire truck in Umatilla, the Florida Highway Patrol said.
Ashlyn Weber, 16, was traveling west on County Road 42, roughly 20 miles west of DeLand, around 11:45 a.m. when her 1998 Nissan sedan left the roadway for an “unknown reason,” a report states. Weber returned to the roadway and continued into the eastbound lane where the front left of her car struck the front left of an oncoming fire truck driven by Timothy Judy, 37, of Tavares, troopers said.
“The fire truck attempted to take evasive action,” said FHP spokeswoman Sgt. Kim Montes.
Judy and two other firefighters in the truck were transported to Waterman Hospital with minor injuries.
Weber was not wearing a seatbelt and died at the scene. Her passenger, 26-year-old Richard Miranda, also of Deltona, suffered minor injuries and was transported to Central Florida Regional Hospital, the report states.
News of Weber’s death devastated Quilei Layn Foxworth, 15, one of her closest friends since Weber’s move two years ago from Ohio to Deltona.
The two hit it off quickly when they met while students at Deltona Middle School. Foxworth said she introduced Weber to her friends and immediately everyone clicked.
“She was the bubbly one,” Foxworth said. “She was always smiling, always making people laugh.”
Foxworth vowed to always remember Weber for her defiance and positive outlook.
“She always had a let’s-do-it attitude,” she said. “She was always like, ‘Let’s go. Don’t let anything bother you.’ She’d always give you reassurance.”
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