Canadian couple seriously injured in accident

MADEIRA BEACH (FOX 13) - A Canadian couple were walking in a crosswalk when they were hit by a car, deputies say.

On Tuesday after 6:30 p.m., 81-year-old David Stempin and 78-year-old Janette Park were in the crosswalk at Gulf Boulevard and 130th Avenue in Madeira Beach, waiting to head eastbound, according to the Pinellas County Sheriff’s Office. Investigators say witnesses noticed the crosswalk lights were flashing as the couple began to cross Gulf Boulevard.

That’s when they were struck by a 2010 Ford Fusion traveling southbound on Gulf Boulevard, driven by 79-year-old Vernon Tarrant, of Cocoa, Florida, according to investigators. Stempin and Park were transported to a local hospital with life-threatening injuries. 

Investigators say neither speed nor impairment were a factor and no arrests have been made. Vernon and his 74-year-old passenger, Alice Tarrant, were not injured. The accident is still under investigation.