LAKELAND, Fla. — POLK COUNTY, Fla. — A 12-year-old boy died early Sunday when he stepped into the travel lanes on Interstate 4 in Polk County, authorities said.
About 3:30 a.m. Sunday, a 2015 Ford Focus was traveling westbound in the outside lane on Interstate 4 at Mile Marker 33, north of the U.S. 98 interchange in Lakeland.
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For unknown reason, a pedestrian entered the path of the Ford and was struck, a Florida Highway Patrol news release said.
The pedestrian, identified as Tracy Logan Castner, 12, of Lakeland, died at the scene.
Austin Walter Taylor, 19, of Mulberry, who was driving the Ford, was uninjured.
Tracy lived at a mobile home park on the south side of the interstate, Florida Highway Patrol spokesman Steve Gaskins said. The boy left home without his parents' knowledge.
No information was released about why Tracy would have been walking along the interstate in the early morning hours Sunday.
No charges have been filed.
