MONDAY, MAY 5
Passenger killed when
driver attempts to avert
collision early Monday
JACKSON COUNTY, FL – A 24-year-old Panama City man was killed when the driver of the car he was riding in tried to take action to avoid rear-ending a vehicle traveling ahead of them on US 231 early Monday morning.
When the 27-year-old driver, who is also from Panama City, realized he was about to run into the car he steered to the right in an effort to avoid a crash but then collided with the right rear of the vehicle ahead, which sent his car into a spin. The car went onto the west shoulder, where its right side collided with a culvert and sent it airborne.
The car then began overturning and ejected the passenger, who was not wearing a seatbelt. The vehicle came to final rest right-side-up on the west shoulder, facing east.
The second car came to a stop on the west west shoulder, facing south.
The driver, who was wearing a seat belt, sustained serious injuries.
The driver of the second vehicle was a 37-year-old Cottondale resident, who escaped harm.
The fatal crash happened at 6:50 a.m. near SR 75 at City Square Road.
FHP was assisted on scene by the Jackson County Sheriff’s Office, Jackson County Fire Rescue and the Alford Volunteer Fire Department.
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SUNDAY, MAY 4
Motorcyclist killed
in Sunday evening
crash in Jackson Co.
JACKSON COUNTY, FL- A 48-year-old Cottondale man died Sunday evening after his motorcycle ran into the back of a tractor-trailer going north on US 231 around 8 p.m.
Both vehicles were traveling in the outside lane. The Florida Highway Patrol report indicated that the motorcyclist – who was not wearing a helmet – failed to slow down as he approached the second vehicle and struck the rear of the trailer.
The tractor-trailer driver, 45, of Wilton Manors, was not injured.
The motorcycle came to rest in the northbound lane.
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SATURDAY, MAY 3
Circuit Judge dies after
pickup truck accident
at Gulf County park
PORT St. JOE, FL – A 61-year-old Leon County Circuit Court Judge died of her injuries after an accident with her truck while traveling north along CR 30E inside T.H. Stone Memorial St. Joseph Peninsula State Park around 4 p.m. Sunday.
The fatality was identified as Dawn Caloca-Johnson, whose Circuit Court duties included Liberty County.
She was injured when she lost control of her pickup truck while traveling through a Gulf County park Saturday afternoon.
According to the report from the Florida Highway Patrol, as she was driving, her truck left the pavement and began rotating clockwise. The left side of the truck hit a large tree and the impact caused the vehicle to overturn. The pickup continued rolling before coming to rest on its right side, just off the roadway.
Her husband later posted online that the two were meeting at the park that day for a camping trip. He also shared that she had been diagnosed with cancer and had been undergoing treatments.
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FRIDAY, MAY 2
Drivers escape serious
injury in I-10 crash Friday
JACKSON COUNTY, FL – The driver of a car that was struck by a trailer while traveling eastbound on I-10 near Mile Marker 147 in Jackson County escaped with only minor injuries Friday afternoon.
The Florida Highway Patrol report showed that two vehicles were eastbound around 4:16 p.m. when the driver of a tractor-trailer moved from the outside lane into the inside lane where a car was traveling. The improper lane change resulted in the trailer striking the passenger’s side of the a car, pushing the smaller vehicle off the road and into the median.
The truck driver – identified as a 22-year-old man from Grand Ridge – then began turning back toward the outside lane. The driver of the car – a 26-year-old woman from Marrysville, OH – lost control of her vehicle, which then overturned. The car collided with the trailer a second time before coming to a stop on the south shoulder.
