The owner told WESH 2 that they want to relocate Tattle Tales Learning Center after the crash on Pine Hills Road
PINE HILLS, Fla. —
A Pine Hills daycare owner told WESH 2 she’s ready to move to a new location after a car slammed into her building last Thursday.
The owner and multiple young children were hurt, but they are all expected to be OK.
“I’ve been speaking with my parents, and the kids are just terrified of everything that took place,” said Alexis Dulin Williams, the owner of Tattle Tales Learning Center.
Tattle Tales was not required to have vehicle impact barriers because it’s been operating with its childcare permits since before a safety ordinance took effect in 2016, Orange County officials said.
This car crash into the daycare in Pine Hills is a reminder of a tragedy from more than a decade ago that prompted change.
In April 2014, a car slammed into the KinderCare on Goldenrod Road, killing 4-year-old Lily Quintus.
The driver responsible for the chain reaction crash, Robert Corchado, is serving a 40-year prison sentence.
Orange County leaders adopted the “Lily Quintus Ordinance” that went into effect in June 2016. It requires new childcare facilities to install vehicle impact barriers before they can receive their occupancy certificates.
Down the street from the boarded-up Tattle Tales, Pamela Green is the director of Stars on the Rise Childcare.
“Very grateful that we decided to put something like this in place,” Green said. “I mean, it’s going to protect the children, protect us.”
Colorful concrete barriers have been in front of the childcare facility since it opened three years ago, Green said.
“It is something that the owner decided to have, you know, installed,” she said, “and they go about two feet deep into the ground, and they do cover the entire length of the building.”
Green said she’s especially glad to have the layer of protection during construction on the busy Pine Hills Road.
“So, they just repaved,” Green said, “and the road’s really slick right now when it rains because it was raining earlier today. And this is something that because we have this, we don’t have to kind of worry about that.”
Orange County building officials said Tattle Tales cannot be occupied again until necessary repairs are made and “a final determination regarding impact protection will be made after a review of the proposed repair plans and scope of work.”
“We’re just asking to be able to relocate somewhere else because we don’t feel safe on Pine Hills Road anymore,” Dulin Williams said.
No charges have been filed as this crash is still under investigation by the Florida Highway Patrol.
Investigators said they believe the 79-year-old man who drove into the daycare was having a medical episode.
Troopers have requested that he undergo a driver’s license reexamination.