TBO.com - TBO is Tampa Bay Online

Roadwork a factor in fatal I-75 crash, FHP says

ERIC HAUSMANN / News Channel 8

Lori Vet was traveling from Miami to Tampa with her children, Alex, 8, and Axel, 6, when they were hit during the early morning crash.

ADVERTISEMENT

By TODD RUGER / SARASOTA HERALD TRIBUNE

Published: October 1, 2007

Updated: 10/01/2007 08:09 am

Live Traffic Conditions | WFLA Jackie Barron Report | Photos

SARASOTA — The way construction workers controlled traffic played a role in a multi-car wreck that killed two people on Interstate 75 early this morning, investigators said.

James P. Brashear, 42 of Sarasota and Manuel R. Ramirez, 54 of Miami, were killed in the accident, according to the Florida Highway Patrol. Tyler Brashear, the 11-year-old son of James P. Brashear, was taken by helicopter to Bayfront Medical Center in St. Petersburg.

Traffic had stopped just over the Bee Ridge Road overpass at about 1 a.m., as the workers set up a a "rolling road block" to reopen a lane they had closed earlier in the night, the Florida Highway Patrol said.

"I think there was a more appropriate place to be doing a road block and or slowing down the traffic as it was approaching the construction zone," said Sgt. Herbert Head, one of several supervisors on the scene.

"It was not the most visible place in my opinion."

Witnesses told investigators that a tractor-trailer accelerated as it went up the overpass in the right-hand lane.

The truck driver did little braking before his tractor slammed into the back of a car stopped for the construction at about 70 mph, Head said.

Another trucker driving next to that semi was able to stop in time, Head said.

The FHP has not yet released the identities of the two men killed in the crash. The 11-year-old son of one of the men was flown to a St. Petersburg hospital for treatment of his injuries.

There were nine other people injured in the crash, fire officials said. Most had minor injuries and were treated at emergency rooms at Doctors Hospital and Lakewood Ranch Medical Center.

The semi-driver who caused the crash told investigators that his cruise-control malfunctioned, Head said. Florida Department of Transportation officials checked out the equipment and found nothing wrong, he said.

The FHP is looking at charges of careless driving.

"I don't think we're looking at any criminal charges because a normal prudent person would have difficulty anticipating traffic stopped at the other side of an overpass," Head said.

This was one of the cars involved in the crash this morning.
ERIC HAUSMANN / News Channel 8

Share this:

Loading Comments...

Email Print

ADVERTISEMENT