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1 Dead, 2 Injured In Crosstown Expressway Crash
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Published: September 10, 2008
Updated: 09/10/2008 06:51 pm
TAMPA - Traffic is flowing again in all directions of the Selmon Crosstown Expressway, but a woman has died and her daughter was critically injured this afternoon when a driver going the wrong direction on the Crosstown struck their vehicle and caused a chain-reaction crash, investigators say.
Five vehicles were involved in the wreck, which occurred just after 2 p.m. on the lower deck of the expressway's westbound lanes about a half mile east of the 78th Street toll plaza, highway patrol spokesman Sgt. Steve Gaskins said.
The wrong-way driver, Cheryl Maria Riemann, 25, of Ruskin was driving a black Honda sport utility vehicle east in the westbound lanes, according to a Florida Highway Patrol report. She was taken to Tampa General Hospital and was listed in critical condition, the report said.
Jennifer M. O'Boyle, 24, of Brandon died after the SUV hit her 1998 Pontiac head-on near the Palm River Road overpass, according to the report. Her daughter, Summer Moll, 4, was taken to Tampa General Hospital and was in critical condition, investigators said.
According to the report, the Pontiac then spun into the westbound lanes and collided with a 2005 Honda van driven by Humera Munir, 36, of Tampa. The van spun to the outside shoulder, where it was struck by a 2006 Ford pickup driven by Jeffrey J. Parker, 32, of Brandon and a 2001 BMW driven by Jamie Gustin, 31, of Valrico. Those two vehicles were steering to the right trying to avoid the other vehicles.
Munir, Parker and Gustin's injuries were listed as minor in the accident report.
Investigators were trying to determine how the SUV entered the Crosstown from the wrong direction, Gaskins said. Alcohol might have been a factor, according to the highway patrol.
Portions of the Crosstown were closed for three hours because of the investigation. It reopened at 6:35 p.m., the patrol said.
The authority that runs the expressway did not expect eastbound rush-hour traffic to be affected beyond some slowing. The eastbound lower lanes and upper deck are open.
"We're still trying to figure out what happened," said Sue Charzan, spokeswoman for the Tampa-Hillsborough County Expressway Authority.
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