Huge crash jams up I-4

Highway becomes a demolition derby as 37 vehicles crash, but injuries are minor.

By REBECCA CATALANELLO, Times Staff Writer
Published October 24, 2007

Paramedics load an injured motorist into an ambulance after a car accident along I-4 westbound, just west of McIntosh Rd, involved more that a dozen cars and shut down the interstate Tuesday night.
	[Brian Cassella | Times]

ADVERTISEMENT [Brian Cassella | Times] One of the more damaged vehicles at the scene of a car accident along I-4 westbound, just west of McIntosh Rd.

TAMPA -- Thirty-seven vehicles crashed into a scrum of metal and shattered glass Tuesday on Interstate 4 as the glare of the afternoon sun cut through a rain shower.

The poor visibility led some of the westbound drivers to slow down, but others roared along apparently failing to notice, resulting in a chain reaction of crashes that turned the steamy highway into an instant scrap yard.

A total of six accidents involving about 70 people tied up the Interstate at McIntosh Road for hours after the first reported collision shortly before 7 p.m.

And yet, no one suffered serious injuries, authorities said.

"I've never been in a car accident quite like this one," said Billy M. Ariarossi, 28, of Tampa. He was on his way from Plant City to Tampa when his 1991 Acura traded paint and a little steel with a white Toyota van.

"I saw a bunch of cars lock up and everyone was sliding all over the place," he said.

Florida Highway Patrol Lt. Allan Carter said there were no deaths or major traumas in the collisions, but several people were taken to area hospitals with minor injuries.

"Whenever we have an accident where no one is killed, that is the best-case scenario," he said.

The chain reaction of crashes rippled through traffic around 6:50 p.m. Traffic came to a dead-stop westbound and backed up in eastbound lanes as well.

One collision became two, then three as cars and trucks rammed into one another.

Farther up the road, other pileups developed in quick succession.

FHP Sgt. Jessee Hinson said the main wreck occurred when 19 spinning, sliding cars and trucks whirled into each other. Somehow, the 32 drivers and passengers survived.

Along the highway nearby, there were five more collisions involving 18 vehicles and 40 or more people.

"Inevitably, someone in the front hit their brakes," and the chain reaction began, Hinson said.

* * *

"You okay, Dad?" asked 24-year-old Jason Bogart after he arrived to help his father at the accident scene.

Dennis Bogart, 53, of Seffner shook his head no, prompting Jason to scold, "That's not what you told Mom."

The elder Bogart had been in his 2006 Kia minivan when he saw a car in front of him begin to crash. He pulled over to the left shoulder to avoid it, and another car hit him from behind.

"I still haven't found my glasses," he said. And he worried about the condition of a collection of family photos in the back of his van, which was totaled after just 14,000 miles.

Carter, with FHP, said several people are expected to be charged. In one of the accidents, which involved eight vehicles, troopers were looking for a hit-and-run vehicle.

"We have to sort out what happened," Carter said.

About 10 troopers and several Hillsborough deputies were on the scene. The highway was closed more than three hours as traffic was rerouted off the Interstate to alternative roads.

A parade of tow trucks began lining up to haul away the wreckage around 8 p.m. John Sheldon, 24, of Clearwater watched as his silver Dodge Durango was towed from where it had come to rest against a guard rail, its front end a tangle of metal and glass that scraped on the pavement as the truck maneuvered it.

"I bought this two weeks ago," he said, cringing.

Rebecca Catalanello can be reached at rcatalanello@sptimes.com or (813) 226-3383.

[Last modified October 24, 2007, 00:17:25]