The Orlando Sentinel has provided an early timeline of the 70 car chain reaction crash this morning on I-4 in Lakeland. While the investigation is in its infancy, dense fog and smoke from a wildfire or controlled burn were substantial contributing causes to the car crashes. Five people are now reported dead with many injured as a result of the early morning car crash. Those injured were taken to local hospitals such as Lakeland Regional Hospital.
Polk County Deputy Sheriff Jack “Carlton” Turner was the first on the scene of the car crash and wasn’t able to get out of his patrol car before being hit multiple times. Turner, obviously distraught, described to his colleagues the crash scene: “”I could still hear metal grinding as cars went into each other. I did all that I could but I watched a man burn to death today.”
Tragedies such as this car crash in Lakeland are never easy to understand or come to grips with especially if you have lost a loved one yourself in the crash. They are even more difficult when preventive measures may have spared people this pain and suffering. It appears at this point that I-4 should have been shut down well before this crash.