The impact smashed the front of the truck and tore through the side of the RV. A dog that escaped the RV was rescued.
By SAUNDRA AMRHEIN
Published March 16, 2004
SAN ANTONIO - A New Hampshire couple were flown to an area hospital after their recreational vehicle collided with a truck Monday morning on State Road 52 almost under Interstate 75.
Delinda Campbell, 68, was listed in critical condition at St. Joseph's Hospital, and her husband, Warren Campbell, 70, was in serious condition, hospital officials said.
Both vehicles had a green light, but the eastbound motor home crossed in front of the westbound truck to turn left onto the entrance ramp of northbound Interstate 75, said Florida Highway Patrol Trooper John Sessa.
The driver of the Davey truck, Justin Ellerbee, said he and two co-workers were riding in the cab of their truck when when the Intruder recreational vehicle towing a car pulled in front of them.
"When he saw us, he tried to gun it," Ellerbee said, speculating that the driver might have tried to outrun the truck through the intersection. He added that it was also possible that the driver didn't see the truck at all and was accelerating as he tried to get onto the highway ramp.
"It happened so fast," Ellerbee said.
The Davey truck carried a crane and bucket on the back. Ellerbee and his crew remove trees and branches from power lines for Withlacoochee River Electric Cooperative Inc., he said. They were all unhurt.
The crash crushed the front end of the truck and split open the passenger side of the motor home, exposing the two front leather seats and the insides of the lower compartments all the way to the rear of the vehicle. The passenger seat, where Delinda Campbell was sitting, was crumpled forward.
Chunks of metal from the motor home and its front windshield lay on the grass next to the highway entrance ramp.
The couple's dog, a husky mix, ran loose after the accident along I-75 until a crash witness went after it and caught the dog, Ellerbee said. The dog was turned over to an animal shelter until one of the owners is well enough to pick it up.
