Florida Bus Accident: DUI suspected in van/bus collision; 2 hurt
Two people, including a high school student, were hospitalized after a collision between a school bus and van. The accident occurred on Tuesday, May 11, 2010 in Brownsville, Florida, according to information provided by the Pensacola News Journal.
Reports indicate an Escambia County school bus was taking Pine Forest High School students home when the bus-van wreck occurred.
A van, whose driver was unidentified, was reportedly traveling northbound on Green Street. The bus, whose driver was also unidentified, was traveling westbound on West Avery. At approximately 12:40 p.m., the van sideswiped the driver’s side of the school bus for unknown reasons.
According to 25-year-old Justin Warner, “I ran up there to see if anyone was hurt then called 911… People do at least 40 (mph) around this corner everyday; it’s dangerous.” Warner was apparently smoking a cigarette outside his home when he witnessed the accident.
Emergency medical services (EMS) teams arrived at the scene to rush a student and the bus driver’s assistant to Sacred Heart Hospital. The extent of their injuries was not immediately clear.
The driver of the van managed to escape injury in the crash but was subsequently arrested. Officials from the Florida Highway Patrol (FHP) allegedly believed alcohol might have been a factor in the collision. It was not stated if the van driver was formally charged with DUI after the incident.
Escambia County FL Accident: Pickup truck vs. motorcycle crash killed 1, hurt 1
A violent weekend motor vehicle collision (MVC) involving a motorcycle and pickup truck resulted in one fatality. The deadly accident occurred in Escambia County, Florida on Saturday, May 8, 2010, according to information provided by the Pensacola News Journal.
Florida Highway Patrol (FHP) authorities stated 28-year-old motorist, Timothy Freitas, was traveling westbound on Nine Mile Road when he attempted to make a left turn onto Scenic Highway. Upon doing so, his pickup truck drove into the path of an eastbound motorcycle. The pickup truck and motorcycle collided, ejecting 45-year-old motorcyclist Gary Warrington and his 34-year-old passenger Amber Bixler. Bixler reportedly landed in the bed on the truck after being thrown from the bike.
While emergency medical personnel responded to the scene to transport those injured to area hospitals, Warrington was killed in the motorcycle wreck. Bixler was taken to Sacred Heart Hospital in serious condition. Neither Warrington nor Bixler were wearing helmets at the time. Freitas did not suffer any injuries in the pickup truck-motorcycle crash.
It was not stated if any controlled substances and/or speed appeared to be factors in the collision. FHP troopers are expected to continue their investigation into the fatal motorcycle-involved accident.
Florida Man charged with DUI in van-bus accident
The Florida Highway Patrol has charged a Pensacola man with drunken driving and driving with an expired license after he crashed his van into an Escambia County school bus.
David Magrino, 48, also was charged with failure to maintain a single lane after the driver’s side of his van struck the rear driver’s side of the bus, which was headed west on West Avery Street on Tuesday, the FHP said.
A witness told troopers that Magrino veered off the road as he headed east on Green Street then steered back onto road hitting the bus.
There were five Pine Forest High School students on the bus, and one suffered minor injuries. The bus driver’s assistant, Virginia Evans, 58, also suffered minor injures, the FHP said. The driver of the bus, Anna Marie Bingham, 42, and the other four students aboard were not injured.
Driver error caused fatal accident
The accident in which Doug Garrity was killed in March 2009 was caused by driver error, according to testimony this morning from a traffic accident reconstruction expert.
Prosecutors are attempting to prove at trial this week that the driver was former Braden River High School football coach Josh Hunter, and that he was drunk at the time of the accident on an Interstate 75 on-ramp in south Sarasota County. If Hunter is found guilty of DUI manslaughter, he faces up to 15 years in prison for the death of Garrity, his friend and assistant coach at Braden River.
Testifying for the prosecution, the expert, Gary Stephens, said driver error caused the accident. After reviewing the accident scene and the Florida Highway Patrol’s traffic homicide report, Stephens said he found that:
- There was no evidence that the driver had taken evasive action to avoid hitting an animal.
- There was no evidence that the driver had hit the brakes before the accident.
- The driver over-corrected both to the left and to the right, before the pickup truck overturned and went airborne.
Garrity was ejected from the vehicle and later died. Hunter and two other passengers, his brother James and Matt Braselton were not seriously injured.
James Hunter is currently in jail because he has refused to testify about whether his brother was driving at the time of the accident, and Braselton testified Wednesday he does not remember who was driving.
However, a state trooper testified that Braselton told him after the accident that Josh Hunter had been driving.
Authorities said a blood test taken two hours after the accident showed that Josh Hunter had a blood alcohol content of .21, almost three times the legal limit of .08 in Florida.
Dump truck rollover snarls I-93 traffic
A dump truck rolled over this morning on Interstate 93 North, seriously injuring the driver and spilling its load of mulch. The crash caused lengthy traffic delays on a major artery into Boston.
The accident occurred near Exit 6 in Braintree. At least three lanes are currently closed, and troopers are trying to open the breakdown lane to help traffic flow, State Police said. The entire roadway was shut down for a short time.
The accident happened around 9:30 a.m., and the traffic jam has been getting worse since then, said Adam Parchesky, a traffic reporter for the SmartRoutes traffic information service.
“It’s a complete standstill,” Parchesky said.Traffic is tied up to East Street in the Dedham/Westwood area, said Jeff Larson, general manager of SmartRoutes. “That’s a pretty significant back-up,” he said. “It’s pretty well jammed.”
The driver was taken to Boston Medical Center.
Florida Tops Nation For Car/Truck Accident Scams
Chalk up another dubious distinction for the Sunshine State. Florida now leads the nation when it comes to auto insurance fraud.
While it’s not a new problem in the state it has become worse as residents struggle with the recession and high unemployment. The most common scams involve owners dumping their vehicles in canals because they can no longer afford to pay their bills.
More recently rings began staging accidents so they could bill insurance companies for millions of dollars in bogus claims. According to the National Insurance Crime Bureau, from 2007 to 2009 there were 511 staged accidents in Miami, 562 in Tampa and 422 in Orlando. The NICB adds that nearly one out of every four phony car accidents in the U.S. came out of Florida.
Staged accidents have become such a problem that the NICB has videos on its website to expose how these carefully choreographed scams work.
The financial losses to the insurance companies have been tremendous and the problem is reportedly getting worse.
There have been more than two dozen arrests statewide this year alone for scams involving phony accidents and no one expects this pace to slow down anytime soon.
Lake Worth man dies in rollover crash on Florida’s Turnpike
A tow truck driver who tried to make an illegal U-turn on Florida’s Turnpike Monday caused a crash that killed the driver of a van and shut down the major roadway’s southbound lanes in Boynton Beach for two hours, the Florida Highway Patrol said.
The 11:15 a.m. crash happened about four miles north of Atlantic Avenue when a southbound tow truck slowed on the turnpike in order to make an illegal U-turn, the FHP said.
The tow truck pulled into the median but the rear of the truck remained protruding into the traffic lanes. A van driving behind the truck collided with it and rolled over.
The van’s driver, Anthony Giardina, 32, of suburban Lake Worth, died at the scene. He was not wearing a seat belt at the time of the crash, according to an FHP news release.
The tow truck driver was identified as Mark Walter Edwards, 42, of West Palm Beach. He was not injured. The FHP said the case is still being investigated and charges in the crash are pending.
The crash caused the complete closing of the turnpike’s southbound lanes for about two hours.
A passenger in the Ford truck, Todd Kocher, 45, of Boynton Beach, was taken to Delray Medical Center to be treated for injuries.
Drugs or alcohol were not believed to be factors in the crash.
All lanes open after fatal accident on Florida turnpike
Troopers have reopened all southbound lanes of traffic after a fatal rollover accident on the Florida Turnpike in Boynton Beach.
The accident happened just after 11 a.m. between Boynton Beach Boulevard and Atlantic Avenue.
Initial reports suggest a vehicle hit the median wall and appeared to roll over several times. It scattered debris across several lanes of traffic.
Palm Beach County Fire officials confirm there is one fatality despite the efforts of a Hollywood battalion chief who stopped to help.
A second patient was transported as a trauma alert to an area hospital and a third person received minor injuries.
Northbound lanes had been shut down intermittently as troopers allowed southbound drivers to turn around.
Tractor-Trailer Accident Closes Route 20
A tractor-trailer went over a guardrail on Route 20 south Thursday morning in Harrison County.
Just before 10:30 a.m., the truck’s passenger side wheels hit a soft shoulder and overturned south of Romines Mills, leaving part of the rig over an embankment, state police said.
The driver was able to get out of the truck, but his passenger, his son, had to be extricated by emergency workers.
That process took more than an hour.
The passenger was flown by Healthnet helicopter to Ruby Memorial Hospital in Morgantown.
There is no word on the extent of his injuries.
The accident pulled down telephone and cable lines in the area.
Route 20 will be closed well into Thursday afternoon while the accident scene is cleaned up.
Speed was not a factor in the accident and no citations are expected, according to state troopers.
The truck was owned by Harco Trucking. It was hauling paper goods and was headed for the Sago area of Upshur County, troopers said.
The Nutter Fort and Stonewood volunteer fire departments, along with the Anmoore EMS unit, the state police, the Harrison County Sheriff’s Department and the Division of Highways all responded to the scene, according to 911 officials.
Pickup truck crashes & catches fire, killing passenger
An early-morning crash in the University Park area claimed the life of a Georgia resident.
Florida Highway Patrol officials said it happened shortly after 3 a.m. Sunday.
A 39-year-old man driving a Toyota pickup truck north on Cooper Creek Boulevard east of Charleston Street reportedly failed to turn at a curve, continuing to travel straight ahead and struck a curb.
The truck’s right front hit some shrubbery, then a tree.
According to reports, the vehicle spun around the tree, coming to rest on the east shoulder of Copper Creek Boulevard.
The truck then caught fire after the crash.
When troopers arrived at the scene, the driver had escaped from the vehicle, but suffered serious injuries.
He was transported to Lakewood Ranch Medical Center for treatment.
The passenger, 28-year-old Haudrey F. Figueurdo, was trapped inside the truck and died from injuries suffered in the accident.
FHP investigators are trying to determine exactly what happened, but no charges have been filed at this time.
