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SUV crash kills man, injures 3
By MIKE BRASSFIELD © St. Petersburg Times, published January 19, 2001 ST. PETERSBURG -- A sport utility vehicle flipped over several times on Interstate 275 Thursday night, killing one man and sending three other people to the hospital.
The southbound SUV had been carrying two men and two women. The man who died had been sitting in the front passenger seat, and the heaviest damage to the vehicle was in that area. The man suffered massive head injuries, state troopers said. "For some reason, the driver lost control," said Trooper Tyrone Crim of the Florida Highway Patrol. "It overturned several times." It was not immediately clear who had been driving. The Mountaineer ended up on its left side, lying across two lanes of the interstate. Rescue workers had to cut an injured man out of the vehicle. The man and two women were taken to Bayfront Medical Center for treatment. Their names weren't immediately available. Mercury Mountaineers from 1996 to 2000 were among the Ford Motor Co. SUVs equipped with faulty Firestone tires that were recalled after they started exploding. But tires didn't appear to be a factor in Thursday night's crash, Crim said. None of the Mountaineer's tires had blown out. The scene of the accident was littered with glass shards and two sets of golf clubs from the vehicle. Southbound traffic on I-275 was backed up for about a mile as vehicles merged into one lane to pass by.
 © 2006 • All Rights Reserved • Tampa Bay Times
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From the Times South Pinellas desks |
