TAMPA, Fla. — One driver was killed and a passenger was thrown onto the roadway during a crash on I-4 Saturday morning.
The Florida Highway Patrol said a Kia Sedona was driving west on I-4 in the inside lane with three passengers around 7:17 a.m. Saturday when he drove into the inside shoulder and hit an attenuator.
FHP said the Sedona then veered back into the travel lanes and hit a Nissan Pathfinder that was also heading westbound on I-4 in the inside center lane.
The impact from the crash threw a 46-year-old woman out of the Kia. Both vehicles finally stopped along the outside shoulder of the interstate.
According to FHP, the Kia driver, a 48-year-old man from Ruskin, was pronounced dead at the scene. The woman who was thrown from the Kia and two other passengers in the Kia all suffered non-life-threatening injuries and were taken to a nearby hospital.
The driver of the Pathfinder that was hit by the Kia was not injured in the crash.
"If there had just been a trooper up there, maybe this whole thing could have been avoided."
A judge in Florida is sharing the story of his son's death in hopes of helping the Florida Highway Patrol trooper shortage.
