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CHASE SQUIRES and STEPHEN HEGARTYThe Wesley Chapel resident is killed in a morning accident. Later, two more crashes occur, one of which critically injures a teen.
A Wesley Chapel woman was killed Tuesday morning, and a pair of crashes tied up traffic for most of the rain-soaked afternoon, leaving a teenager critically injured and snarling the evening commute for many.
Kimberly J. Haro, 34, of 1941 Tampa Bay Drive in Wesley Chapel, died after she swerved to pass a slow-moving dump truck, then lost control of her car and collided with a second dump truck.
The collision happened about 7:45 a.m. on State Road 56 just east of Interstate 75. Haro was traveling east on SR 56 about a half mile from the interstate when she came upon a dump truck slowing for a right turn onto a private road, according to a report by the Florida Highway Patrol. As the dump truck began turning right, Haro swerved to the left to go around the truck. She steered into the center lane on SR 56 then turned sharply back. That's when she lost control of her Toyota.
The car went into a spin, heading to the right off SR 56 toward the private road. There, she struck a second dump truck driven by Pedro J. Alvarez of Tampa. Alvarez's daughter, Beatriz Alvarez of Tampa, said her father was shaken but uninjured in the collision.
Another crash happened just before 3 p.m. Tuesday when a silver Buick sedan driven by a teenage boy apparently tried to cross State Road 54 and turn east from the New River Library.
The Buick was broadsided by a westbound 18-wheeler, critically injuring the teen inside the Buick, according to patrol Cpl. Erik Bromiley.
The teen's identity was not immediately available.
Hours later, with traffic still backed up, another wreck occurred as 18-year-old Nicholas Besse of Wesley Chapel apparently tried to get out of the traffic jam by making a U-turn and heading back into the westbound lanes of SR 54.
Trooper Michael Jarabek reported Besse tried to turn left about 5:30 p.m. and was struck by a Chevrolet van driven by Melvin Triplett, 53, of Zephyrhills.
Besse's Chevrolet sedan was spun around, and Besse was ejected from the passenger side window, landing in a roadside ditch filled with water.
Jarabek said witnesses reported the teen was under water for a short while before he was pulled to the side of the road.
Traffic backed up about 3 miles, to Bruce B. Downs Boulevard, through most of the evening's rush hour, but was clearing by about 7 p.m.