2 hailed for I-4 pileup heroics

One deputy, an Iraq veteran, says he didn't expect such wreckage in the U.S.

By ABBIE VANSICKLE, Times Staff Writer
Published January 15, 2008

Polk Deputy Jack "Carlton" Turner III talks about the I-4 crashes as Deputy Paul Buoniconti listens. The sheriff said the two prevented many more fatalities in the fog and smoke.
	[Skip O'Rourke | Times]

ADVERTISEMENT I-4 pileup Audio report: I-4 911 call from driver Fatalities identified [Polk County Sheriff's Office] Deputy Sheriff Carlton Turner's police cruiser was first hit when he was trying to get out to check on victims. He later pulled it sideways to use it as a barrier where survivors could seek refuge from the flames. [Skip O'Rourke | Times] The chain of collisions closed a 14-mile stretch of interstate near Auburndale. That morning, the area was thick with fog and smoke from a brush fire that got out of control.

BARTOW - Polk County Deputy Paul Buoniconti heard a voice call out from inside a mangled vehicle on Interstate 4. He peered into the mess of metal but couldn't reach the man trapped inside.

A cell phone rang. The man said he couldn't answer it because he couldn't feel his arms or legs.

The deputy dialed his own cell phone. He put the man's wife on speaker phone. The hurt man told his wife he loved her, that there had been an accident.

"I'm glad I was there," Buoniconti said as he spoke Monday about the I-4 crashes that killed four people, including two Tampa men, and injured 38 others. "I know how much it would mean to my family."

Buoniconti, 34, and Carlton Turner, 26, were among the first deputies on the scene of Wednesday's chain of collisions, which closed a 14-mile stretch of interstate near Auburndale. That morning, the area was thick with fog and smoke from a brush fire that got out of control.

Both deputies recalled the trauma they saw, horrifying images burned into their memories.

For Buoniconti, the decision to call the man's wife was an instinct learned from the battlefields.

The deputyjoined the Polk Sheriff's Office in 2000 but later served in Iraq. He said he had wished he could call the loved ones of dying soldiers, to put them in touch in their final moments.

The wreckage, too, reminded him of a war scene.

"I never imagined I'd see that in the States," he said. "It was unbelievable."

The man Buoniconti found trapped was eventually pulled from the vehicle. Buoniconti said he remains hospitalized but declined to name him.

Both deputies talked about poor visibility at the crash scene.

"It was hard even to see your feet," said Turner, who got caught up in the wrecks on his way to take a crash report.

Buoniconti likened wading through the fog to deep sea diving. He had stopped his patrol car and proceeded on foot, carrying a flashlight and emergency kit. Entering the crash site felt like coming upon the Titanic wreck, he said.

In the thick air the deputies heard cars and trucks slamming into each other. Some braked; others didn't.

Turner's patrol car was hit. He was able to pull it sideways and use it as a bunker, a barrier where survivors could seek refuge from the flames.

He asked people to pair up, the injured and the unhurt, to make their way through the smoke and fire. The victims were disoriented. Some didn't remember their names.

"This is definitely the worst thing I've ever seen," said Turner, a Polk deputy since September 2006 who joined the SWAT team a year ago.

He knew he needed more deputies, more emergency workers. He said he didn't know how long it took for help to arrive, but in the thick of the mayhem, others couldn't come quick enough.

"Basically, I was just thinking I needed all the help that I could get," he said.

Polk Sheriff Grady Judd praised both men and the other emergency workers.

Judd recalled that on the day of the crash, Turner was frustrated that he couldn't do more, couldn't save everyone.

"But for their actions there certainly would have been many more fatalities," Judd said before whisking the two deputies away from the crowd of reporters.

Abbie VanSickle can be reached at vansickle@sptimes.com or 813-226-3373.

[Last modified January 14, 2008, 22:42:05]