Wreck kills Belle Glade man crossing South Bay street early Monday, PBSO says

SOUTH BAY — A Belle Glade man died early Monday, one day before his 42nd birthday, after a vehicle struck him as he crossed a South Bay street, the Palm Beach County Sheriff’s Office said.

Charlie Simmons was crossing Palm Beach Road – also known as State Road 80 – just before 4 a.m. Monday when a sedan struck him at Southwest Second Avenue, just east of U.S. 27, according to a PBSO crash report.

The crash threw Simmons to the ground and other vehicles ran over him as he lay in the roadway, PBSO said. Paramedics declared him dead at the scene.

The report does not indicate that the driver of the sedan was facing criminal charges as of Monday.

PBSO said the driver left the scene but is cooperating with the investigation. Simmons was wearing dark clothing on a largely unlit stretch of road, and the driver “did not observe him,” according to the crash report.

The report does not say how PBSO linked the driver to the crash. It also does not say how fast the sedan was traveling at the time of the wreck.