OCALA — A three-vehicle crash on Interstate 75 killed one person and injured three others Tuesday night.
Traffic along the highway came to a standstill in the southbound lanes, and law enforcement officials had to detour vehicles onto the State Road 326 exit just north of Ocala. The crash occurred just yards away from the exit.
The injured people were transported to University of Florida Health Shands Hospital in Gainesville and Ocala Regional Medical Center.
A man who was involved in the wreck told a Star-Banner reporter that the crash was “terrible.”
Florida Highway Patrol troopers on scene huddled, and walked the length of the crash scene, trying to piece together what happened. The troopers used lights from a fire truck that was parked in the middle of the roadway to aid their investigation.
Preliminarily, troopers said a Cadillac SUV occupied by a man and woman was in the inside southbound lane of I-75. The SUV struck a pedestrian who troopers suspect was also in the inside lane.A woman driving a Hyundai car rear-ended the SUV, sending the SUV into the inside emergency lane. The car stopped sideways in the middle of I-75, FHP officials said.
A semitractor-trailer hit the side of the car. The truck driver stopped not far away. He was not injured. Troopers said the man and woman from the SUV were taken to ORMC and listed in serious condition. The woman from the Hyundai was transported to Shands and also was listed in serious condition.
Marion County Fire Rescue spokesman James Lucas said firefighters were assigned the call at 7:43 p.m. and arrived at 7:51 p.m. The pedestrian was pronounced dead at 7:53 p.m.The truck driver told a Star-Banner reporter that he was coming from Chicago and was on his way to Pompano to deliver sauces for McDonald’s.
The truck driver said he saw the car in the roadway and tried steering the big rig away.
FHP officials said the pedestrian was walking southbound in the left lane in the dark on I-75 when he was hit. Authorities don’t know where the man came from or where he was going. His name was not released