Casselberry toddler dies in Legacy Place vehicle incident, police investigate

A 14-month-old child died after a vehicle incident on Legacy Winds Way in Casselberry’s Legacy Place neighborhood, turning a quiet residential street into a fatal emergency. Casselberry police and the Seminole County Fire Department responded around 12:10 p.m. Sunday, May 24, and the child was pronounced dead at the scene.

Investigators have not released a full sequence of events. Police said the toddler may have fallen from a vehicle operated by a parent, been run over by it, or both. That distinction remains central to the case because it could shape whether investigators ultimately view the death as a backing incident, a rollaway-related tragedy, or a supervision failure inside a neighborhood where children and vehicles move in close quarters.

Legacy Place is described in real-estate listings as a non-gated townhome community in Casselberry, with most homes built from 2021 to 2022. Those listings also point to features such as a yoga lawn, dog park and tot lot, underscoring that the incident unfolded in a family-oriented setting rather than along a busy commercial corridor. Casselberry’s city website says the city has 16 parks and more than two dozen lakes, a reminder that much of daily life here happens in residential areas where cars, driveways and small children often share the same space.

National safety guidance shows why investigators are likely looking closely at whether this was a backover-type event. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration says many children are killed or seriously injured in backover incidents, which typically happen when a vehicle backs out of a driveway or parking space and backs over an unattended child. Safe Kids Worldwide recommends walking all the way around a parked car before driving and keeping children away from driveways and parking areas.

The U.S. Department of Transportation’s Traffic Safety Facts for 2022 says an average of 3 children were killed and an estimated 429 were injured every day in traffic crashes that year. Casselberry Police Chief Larry D. Krantz is the department chief identified in public materials, and the Seminole County Fire Department was established on Oct. 1, 1974. For now, the case remains an active investigation, with the critical unanswered questions centered on how the child left the vehicle, what happened next and who saw it unfold.