PORT ST. LUCIE, Fla. —
Four people are dead after separate crashes that occurred on I-95 South in Port St. Lucie early Sunday morning, causing the southbound lanes to be shut down for several hours.
The crashes happened around 4:30 a.m. just south of Gatlin Boulevard.According to Florida Highway Patrol, for unknown reasons, a van with three people inside was stopped in between the right and middle southbound lanes of I-95 when a pickup trucked crashed into its right side. The van was stopped in the roadway for an unknown amount of time prior to the crash.
As a result, both vehicles spun counter clockwise before coming to stop facing north, toward oncoming traffic.
FHP investigators say a tractor trailer, unable to avoid the crash that just happened, struck the front of the van, causing it to continue spinning until it came to a final rest on the left shoulder.
The tractor trailer also hit the damaged pickup truck, dragging it several hundred feet until both vehicles stopped between the center and left lanes.
The driver of the van, a 24-year-old woman from Georgia and her two passengers, died from injuries caused by the crash. One passenger was a 33-year-old woman from Ormond Beach and the other was a 27-year-old man from California.
The driver of the pickup truck, a 43-year-old man from Port St. Lucie, was also killed in the crash. He was the only occupant in the vehicle.
Lt. Yanko Reyes with the FHP says there was no way the truck would have been able to slow down or move out of the way.
“It is extremely hard for them to come to a complete stop and it is a powerful vehicle,” said Reyes. “In this case four lives were taken.”
The driver of the tractor trailer, a 65-year-old man from Georgia, did not suffer from any injuries.
The southbound lanes of I-95 near Gatlin Boulevard were closed from the time of the crash until nearly 1 p.m. Sunday.
The names of the victims are not known at this time.
The crash remains under active investigation by FHP.