One killed, one critically injured, in Crystal River, Sunday, August 23 crash
Crystal River, Florida - A three-vehicle traffic crash on Sunday morning, August 23, at 6:30 am, resulted in the death of a 19 year-old Crystal River youth and critical injuries to a 66 year-old Clearwater, Florida woman who was driving in the wrong direction of travel on U. S. Highway 19, a multiple-lane, divided highway.
According to the Florida Highway Patrol, the 66 years old Clearwater woman was driving a sedan, traveling north, for unknown reasons, within the southbound lanes of US 19, south of Indian Woods Path in north Crystal River, and her vehicle collided head-on with the second vehicle, a pickup truck traveling south in the southbound lanes of US 19, that was driven by the 19 year-old Crystal River man who suffered fatal injuries at the scene of the crash.
After impact, both vehicles rotated to rest within the southbound travel lanes of US 19. Following the crash, a third vehicle, a sport utility vehicle (SUV) driven by a 53 year-old Crystal River woman, that was traveling south within the southbound lanes of US 19, collided head-on with the pickup truck when the driver failed to observe the two crashed vehicles in the dark.
The two female passengers in the SUV received minor injuries as a result of the crash. Each of the four passengers was wearing a seatbelt, according to the FHP press release.
Citing Marsy's law as the reason, the FHP no longer releases the names of people or specific models of vehicles involved in traffic crashes in its public press releases.