Staff report
GAINESVILLE, Fla. – Two pedestrians were hit by vehicles in the first two days of 2025, with at least one man and a dog succumbing to their injuries.
Confirmed information is unavailable despite five days of calls to the Gainesville Police Department (GPD), but the first accident was reported at 12:38 a.m. on January 1 at the intersection of University Avenue and Main Street. According to posts on social media, one person was reportedly transported to the hospital with serious injuries, but no further information is available at this time.
At 5:40 p.m. on January 2, a crash was reported near the intersection of NE 7th Street and NE 16th Avenue; according to reports on social media, a young male driver turned left onto NE 7th Street, lost control of his vehicle, and hit a 42-year-old man who was walking his dog. The pedestrian was reportedly killed in the crash, and the dog was taken to a veterinarian, where it died of its injuries.
The victim of the January 2 crash has been identified by Gainesville-Alachua County Association of Realtors as Matt Umanos, a local Realtor. Funeral services were held on Saturday.