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Burned Tanker Driver Dies

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Sarasota Herald-Tribune

Published: June 8, 2008

ELLENTON - Raymond A. Neumann died Saturday afternoon at Tampa General Hospital, three days after crawling from the cab of his blazing fuel tanker after it plunged from a highway bridge and exploded.

Authorities said Neumann, 54, who had been driving big trucks for most of his life, suffered significant burns after his 8,000-gallon truck careened off Interstate 75 onto U.S. 301, where it ignited in a fireball with a smoke plume visible for miles.

Neumann was ablaze as he crawled from the fiery wreck. Three motorists who pulled him from the crash site were not injured. No other drivers were hurt.

"This is a very traumatic time for everyone right now," his 26-year-old son, David, said Saturday.

"He worked for his children. His whole life was dedicated to his children."

Family members called Neumann, who lives in Spring Hill and owns Ray Neumann Transport, a proud trucker dedicated to the profession and a safe driver.

He has four sons, ages 13 to 26, and a 10-year-old daughter, in addition to an adult stepdaughter.

David Neumann said his father knew how to get around on back roads and trained other drivers how to steer fuel tankers.

"If I needed to get from point A to point B, I could call him up," David Neumann said Saturday.

Ray Neumann has hauled cars and gravel in earlier jobs, his family said.

Neumann, a subcontractor who hauled fuel in Central Florida, was driving south on Interstate 75 on Wednesday when he swerved to avoid a pickup that authorities say spun out after merging onto the highway from U.S. 301.

Neumann's truck struck the vehicle before plunging over the bridge and exploding.

"I can't explain the devastation right now," Neumann's ex-wife, Karen, said Saturday. "It's just horrific."

Authorities say the driver of the pickup, Fernando Aguilera, 29, of Bradenton is not facing criminal charges. Aguilera, who said he lost control on the wet road, was cited for careless driving. An electrician, Aguilera was driving home from a job site in Wimauma.

Aguilera offered his sympathy to the Neumann family Saturday and said he wanted to make plans to meet and talk with them. He said the crash was an accident, and that the wet road caused him to lose control.

"That's my route to go home," he said Saturday. "I've been driving that road for months. But that day was different."

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