Florida Southern Freshman Struck By Car, Killed Sunday Morning

A freshman swimmer at Florida Southern College was hit by a car and killed early Sunday morning, local police report.

The City of Lakeland Police Department reports that Wil Mintner was struck by a car at 2:12 a.m. while he was lying on the southbound side of U.S. Highway 9.

One car noticed Mintner lying on the road and swerved to avoid hitting him, but the car following didn’t have time to swerve and hit Mintner.

The police responded and Mintner was pronounced dead at 2:24 a.m per the police report, which you can read here.

It’s unclear why Mintner was lying in the road or if he had been hit by an earlier car before the local police were called. According to police, speed did not appear to be a factor in the accident, and there was no evidence that the driver of the car was impaired in any way.

The police report does note that a 911 call had come in only a few minutes before the incident, reporting that a white male who appeared to be intoxicated was walking on highway 98. Lakeland police will continue to investigate the situation.

Mintner was a Florida native who competed for Lake Weir High School and was the team MVP all four years. He was also part of the Central Florida Marlins Swim Club and was studying biology while swimming on the Florida Southern swim team in the NCAA’s Division II.

“We lost an amazing young man this morning,” said Florida Southern head coach Mike Blum. “William had a tremendous work ethic in and out of the water.  He will not only be missed by our team but the entire Florida Southern College athletic community.  We want to send our deepest condolences to William’s family.”

Mintner was 18 years old.

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RioFamily
8 years ago

Our condolences go out to the family and friends of Wil. He was a good hearted person. My daughter swam with him at the Marlins and as a parent of a swimmer your team is extended family. We miss you Wil. R.I.P

The Rio’s

afkf
8 years ago

he picked the worst place possible to blackout….

Henry
8 years ago

This si very saddening

Jacob
8 years ago

So sorry to hear about this loss Will was a good person and i offer my prayers and condolences to him

Cumberlands Swimming & Diving
8 years ago

Our thoughts and prayers go to the Minter family and whole Florida Southern community

Gina Rhinestone
8 years ago

Condolences to the driver . Can you imagine what that thud felt like & then to discover it was what you thought it was?

I doubt he/she is reading this but I just wanted to acknowledge what ppl have overlooked.

FSC Dad
8 years ago

My heart and prayers goes out to the Mintner family and FSC community.

Leanne
8 years ago

Condolences to the family and the team

About Jared Anderson

Jared Anderson

Jared Anderson swam for nearly twenty years. Then, Jared Anderson stopped swimming and started writing about swimming. He's not sick of swimming yet. Swimming might be sick of him, though. Jared was a YMCA and high school swimmer in northern Minnesota, and spent his college years swimming breaststroke and occasionally pretending …

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