INDIAN RIVER COUNTY – A vehicle struck a disabled semi tractor trailer killing the driver in a Nov. 11 crash on Florida’s Turnpike, according to highway officials.
The crash occurred in the highway’s two southbound lanes bordered by guardrails around the 176-mile marker south of the Fort Drum Wildlife Management Area shortly before 4 p.m.
A 37-year-old Davenport man who was driving the 2022 Hyundai vehicle that struck the parked semi tractor trailer was flown to HCA Florida Lawnwood Hospital in Fort Pierce and later pronounced deceased, according to the Florida Highway Patrol and St. Lucie County fire officials. Davenport is southwest of Orlando.
The Hyundai, “for an unknown reason,” highway officials said, swerved from the inside lane onto the shoulder striking the rear of the semi.
The 2010 Kenworth semi was disabled along the outside paved shoulder of the roadway, the agency states in its preliminary crash report.
Fire rescue personnel with St. Lucie County Fire District removed the man after the vehicle became partially entrapped under the trailer of the semi, said fire district spokesperson Brenda Smith.