A 22-year-old Lakeland woman died Sunday morning after a crash that wasn't discovered for several hours, authorities said.
Around 7:50 a.m., Polk County sheriff's deputies investigated a report of a four-door Honda seen crushed in a driveway at 8335 Socrum Loop Road in Lakeland. They found the car and one occupant inside, 22-year-old Briana Millender, who was seriously injured.
Millender was extricated from the car by emergency responders and taken to Lakeland Regional Medical Center, where she later died, deputies said.
Investigators say the crash happened some time after 2 a.m. and wasn't discovered until much later by a man walking in the neighborhood.
It appears the car was heading north on Socrum Loop Road when Millender failed to negotiate a 45-degree curve. At the intersection of Buckhorn Run, the car left the road, slid and struck an oak tree head-on. The car then spun 180 degrees and ended in the driveway, investigators said.
Deputies said Millender was not wearing a seatbelt and that speed an impairment were likely factors in the crash. Millender's initial blood screen indicated the presence of cocaine and marijuana and a block alcohol content of .143, well above the level at which Florida law presumes impairment, they said.
Marijuana and paraphernalia were located in the car, deputies said.