A man has been arrested on charges of DUI manslaughter and DUI with property damage in connection with a fatal crash late last year.
Gerald Antonio Palomba, 56, of Belleview, told a Star-Banner reporter that he was hospitalized for nearly a year after the crash.
Florida Highway Patrol officials said the crash happened along County Road 42 and Belle Meade Circle in The Villages.
Troopers said Palomba was riding a motorcycle eastbound on CR 42. Lisa Marie Kyler, with her granddaughter as a passenger, was driving a Chevy van northbound on Belle Meade.
Authorities said the Chevy stopped at a red light. When the light changed to green, other vehicles that were in front of the van moved. The Chevy eventually made its way past the light, which was still green, but the motorcycle ran the red light and collided with the van, officials said.
The impact was so hard, troopers said, the Chevy overturned.
Kyler and her then-8-year-old granddaughter were transported to UF Health Spanish Plaines Hospital in The Villages. Kyler died there. The girl was not seriously injured, authorities said. Kyler was 56.