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North Escambia Driver Involved In I-10 Bridge Wreck; One Dead
June 5, 2009
A North Escambia driver was among those involved in one of two accidents on the Escambia Bay Bridge Thursday afternoon that left one person dead and several injured.
The Florida Highway Patrol said the fatality occurred in an accident on the westbound side of the I-10 bridge over Escambia Bay about 4:51 Thursday afternoon. Troopers say Jeffrey Earl Hollis, 39, of Williams Ditch Road, Cantonment, was looking a fiery crash on the eastbound bridge when his Ford F250 slammed into two vehicles that were stopped on the bridge as drivers observed the accident on the eastbound bridge.
Troopers say Hollis braked, but struck the rear of a Dodge driven by Christopher Lee Hinson, 20, of Pace, pushing the Dodge into a GMC Yukon driven by Hao Chi Nguyen, 36 of Pensacola.
A passenger in the vehicle struck by Hollis was killed in the collision. Troopers identified the victim as Kimberly Marie Gooden, 23, of Pace. Hinson, the driver of the car, was transported to Sacred Heart Hospital with serious injuries.
Hollis suffered minor injures in the accident and was not transported to the hospital. A passenger in Hollis’ vehicle, 26-year old Curtis W. Poole, of Cantonment, was not injured.
Troopers say charges are pending in the crash.
In the fiery crash on the eastbound side of the bridge, the FHP says a tractor trailer driven by Rickey Hughes, 37, of Bainbridge, GA, slammed into a Dodge truck driven by Terry Bartlett, 48, of Pensacola. Troopers say Bartlett and other drivers had slowed to near stop on the bridge due to traffic.
The Dodge truck was shoved about 300 feet by the semi, pushing it into four other vehicles along the way. The drivers of those vehicles were indentified as Johnny Dozier, 52, of Milton; Roberta Bailey, 40, of Milton; Ryan Novak, 31, of Milton and Michael Clay, 58, of San Marcos, TX. None of the four drivers were injured.
Bartlett, the driver of the first vehicle hit by the semi, was transported to Santa Rosa Medical Center with minor injuries.
Hughes, the driver of the semi, was charged with careless driving, according to the FHP. His truck, loaded with oyster shells, caught fire in the crash, sending up a plume of smoke that was visible for miles.
Pictured top and inset: A fiery crash on the I-10 bridge over Escambia Bay Thursday afternoon. Submitted photos for NorthEscambia.com, click to enlarge.
Comments
10 Responses to “North Escambia Driver Involved In I-10 Bridge Wreck; One Dead”
Everyone is talking about how bad truck drivers are, let’s remember that the fatality happened on the other side, from rubber necking! I work for a trucking company, and our drivers are allowed only one warning. If a complaint is called in more that once they are terminated. If they receive a citation for Any driving offense they are terminated the day we find out. Please don’t judge all companies by the actions of one.
I have a neighbor that drives a 18 wheeler. He is a very safe driver. He never drives fast when he comes by our home. I have saw him on the highway, He is a safe driver. Highway 97 is very dangerous . I have beeent passed with on coming cars, I had to leave the road to let this car from being hit head on. I hit a tree.This happen years ago.l hope some thing will be done about this road. Porch should help pay for this. Highway 97 is very busy on the weekend because of Wind Creek .Highway 4 is also dangerous, People pass all the time on the curves,
GOOD WORK WILLIAM! What did we do before you started this site? This is the only place we can find out what is happening. YES, Hwy 97 is a very dangerous road. Not all of the problem s are semis, though. Today a car passed me on a double line and passed the car in front of on a curve, Both times another vehicle was coming. I was driving 60 and he was going at least 70. We really need some patrol cars up here. There have been 12 deaths on this road since we moved up here ten years ago.
We did call and report him…thank goodness they have to have #’s on their trucks. Hopefully the driver was reprimanded!!!
How sad. Keep your eyes on the road, people.
I hope you called Perdido trucking and reported this incident…if not, they will never slow down. If the company knew this, they could be involved in a a lawsuit one day from a driver hitting someone, I would call and report it. I hate to read about things like this…..people stop and look and now someone is dead from it…keep driving if your not involved, you can read about it or see it on the news
Nick is right for a lot of semi drivers. I live on Hwy 97 and the Perdido Trucking company is the WORST!!! I had one tailgating me the other day and tried passing me, along with 3 other cars on a curve twice! He almost rearended us twice! My wife was terrified!!! We were going 62 mph and the the posted speed is 55 mph. There is no reason for those trucks to be flying & tailgating people…it’s dangerous!!!
Excuse me Nick,but you don’t know what you are talking about. The folks who are driving the eighteen wheelers are some of the best drivers on the road!!!!!!
Thank you for providing this information to us. This site is really the best one for providing accurate and well-written information for this area. Thanks and keep up the great work. My condolences to the family members of the young lady that was killed. What a terrible tragedy for all involved.
I hope it wasn’t true but in most cases with a 18-wheeler the driver is going to fast and does not allow for the distance it takes for a loaded truck to slow down or stop. Speed is the fault in most cases.