This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2017, and information in the article may be outdated. It is provided only for personal research purposes and may not be reprinted.
A Utah woman's foot was severed after she and family members were hit by a truck while on vacation in Florida on Sunday night.
The family was walking on a stretch of grass along the 2200 block of Southwest 42nd Street in Fort Lauderdale, Fla., when a pickup truck crossed a median and struck three of them from behind just before 8 p.m., Mike Jachles, a spokesman for the Broward Sheriff's Office, told the Sun Sentinel newspaper.
Raquel Leota, 24, lost her foot in the crash, suffered "irreparable" damage and will have to get a prosthesis, according to an online fundraising page said to be set up by her brother Bryon Wensel. Another brother, 10-year-old Tyson Wensel, suffered a "severe" concussion, laceration to his right leg, fracture to his left foot and bruising on both lungs, the page says. Leota's husband, Thomas Leota, 31, suffered minor injuries, according to the Sun Sentinel.
The two siblings were in the intensive care unit of the hospital, the fundraising page says, with no indication of when they would be released. Leota's condition improved Monday from critical to fair, Jachles told the Sun Sentinel.
The Eagle Mountain family was planning to leave for a cruise Monday, Jachles told WSVN News.
The truck's 57-year-old driver was treated for minor injuries, Jachles told the newspaper. Police were investigating the crash and looking at speed and alcohol as potential contributing factors.
No charges had been filed as of Monday, the news outlets reported.
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