PALMETTO, Florida — The Florida Highway Patrol is searching for the driver who struck and killed a 53-year-old Palmetto woman on US 41 late on Friday night and then fled the scene, troopers said. The woman was pronounced dead at the scene, and investigators believe the vehicle that hit her may be a white Kia sedan with fresh damage to its front left side.

Source: Florida Highway Patrol, via Tampa Bay 28 (ABC Action News)

The crash happened at about 11:12 p.m. on Friday, November 13, on US 41 near the intersection of Bayshore Road in Palmetto, in Manatee County on Florida's Gulf Coast, according to the Highway Patrol's report. It is the only fatal hit-and-run FHP reported in the county that night, and as of Saturday afternoon the driver had not been found.

What troopers say happened

Troopers said an unidentified vehicle was travelling south in the inside lane of US 41 as the woman attempted to cross the travel lanes of the highway. The vehicle collided with her, and after the collision the driver fled the scene instead of stopping, FHP said. The woman, a 53-year-old from Palmetto, died where she was struck; her name has not been released in the Highway Patrol reporting published so far.

The vehicle troopers are looking for

Investigators said the vehicle may be a white 2021–2023 Kia K5, with damage to its front left side. FHP has stressed that the identification is a possibility, not a confirmation: the make and model come from the early investigation, and the driver remains under criminal investigation. That front-left damage is now the single most recognisable lead in the case — a white K5 in the Tampa Bay and Sarasota-Manatee area that suddenly needs body work after Friday night is exactly what troopers want to hear about.

The Highway Patrol asks anyone with information regarding the crash to contact *FHP — the patrol's tip line, dialled as *347 on a mobile phone — or Crime Stoppers. Tips can be the difference in a hit-and-run investigation, where the first hours matter most: vehicles get repaired, moved or hidden, and surveillance video from homes and businesses along the corridor is often overwritten within days.

US 41 after dark: the corridor in context

US 41 — the Tamiami Trail — is one of the main north–south arteries through Palmetto and Manatee County, carrying fast through-traffic on multiple lanes past homes, businesses and side streets. A pedestrian crossing its travel lanes at 11:12 p.m. faces traffic moving at highway speed in the dark, and a driver who leaves after a fatal collision turns a crash investigation into a criminal search. Florida law requires a driver involved in a crash to stop and remain at the scene; leaving a fatal crash is a serious felony offence, which is why FHP treats the search for the driver — not just the car — as the priority.

What happens next is a familiar sequence for troopers: canvassing for video along US 41, checking body shops and salvage yards for a matching Kia with front-left damage, and waiting for the tip that connects a car to a driver. Until that happens, the case stays open and the woman who died on Friday night stays unnamed in public reporting — a 53-year-old neighbour from Palmetto whose walk across US 41 ended under a car whose driver chose to keep going.

For Punjabi and other diaspora families in the Tampa Bay and Sarasota-Manatee area — including truckers who run US 41 and I-75 through Manatee County at night — the case is a reminder of how dangerous this corridor is after dark for anyone on foot, and how much a single phone call can matter when a driver flees. Awaaz Punjab will update this story if FHP names the victim or announces an arrest.