ST. PETERSBURG — A 65-year-old woman died Saturday from injuries she suffered earlier this month when a piece of metal flew through the passenger-side windshield of the sport-utility vehicle she was riding in on the Howard Frankland Bridge, according to the Florida Highway Patrol.

Peggy Musto died at St. Joseph's Hospital, the FHP said.

The St. Petersburg woman had been hospitalized even since the April 4 incident.

She and her husband Glenn Musto, 62, were driving north on the bridge in a 2017 Lexus RX300 behind another car, described as a red sedan. They were near the hump when, at about 11:15 a.m., the red sedan struck a piece of metal lying on the roadway and propelled it into the air.

It struck the hood of the Lexus, the FHP said, and crashed through the windshield.

The metal strip was about 19-inches long and struck Peggy Musto inside the vehicle. The vehicle stopped on the shoulder of the bridge and emergency personnel rushed her to the hospital.

"This is a tremendously difficult time for our family as we are mourning the loss of our beautiful and spirited Peggy," the family said in a statement released to the Tampa Bay Times on Monday. "We ask for privacy as we prepare for her funeral."