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Expressway Reopened After Overturned Truck Wreck

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TBO Staff Report

Published: October 24, 2007

Updated: 10/24/2007 05:31 pm

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TAMPA - The westbound lanes of the Lee Roy Selmon Expressway at Euclid Avenue has been reopened following a mid-morning accident involving an overturned 18-wheel truck.

When Tampa Fire Rescue responded at 11:15 a.m. to the single-vehicle expressway crash near Gandy Boulevard, rescuers found the cab destroyed. The driver got out of the wreckage unharmed.

One of the truck's saddle tanks was leaking diesel fuel, but fire crews stopped the leak and tried stopping fuel from entering the median grass area, a Florida Highway Patrol report states. About 20 gallons of fuel were spilled.

Truck driver Steve Luiz, 44, had been pulling an empty flatbed trailer for a Pinellas Park company, the Patrol said. He said he wasn't sure why the truck hydroplaned, causing him to strike the left side of the truck against the barrier over Himes Avenue. He also said he wasn't sure why the truck then crossed right, striking another cement barrier.

The truck's tractor exploded, with the engine coming to rest outside the engine compartment, the report states. The truck's wheels lay several feet away and the radiator was about 20 feet down the expressway.

Investigators have not released any charges in the accident.

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