Two critically injured in I-75 crash after driver tried to avoid hitting box that fell off pickup truck

Staff report

GAINESVILLE, Fla. – Two Gainesville residents and one Virginia resident were injured this morning when a driver trying to avoid hitting a box that fell off a pickup truck onto I-75 swerved onto the shoulder and hit a tree.

According to a release from the Florida Highway Patrol, at about 10:24 a.m., a large box containing an A/C coil fell off a pickup truck that was traveling northbound near mile marker 393 on I-75 and landed in the center lane. A sedan driven by a 25-year-old Gainesville man swerved right to avoid hitting the box, crossed onto the east shoulder, and hit a tree. The driver was seriously injured.

A 23-year-old Gainesville woman and a 26-year-old man from Norfolk, VA, who were passengers in the car, suffered critical injuries. The driver of the pickup truck, a 57-year-old Gainesville man, was uninjured. All three of the sedan’s passengers were wearing seatbelts.

According to a release from Alachua County Fire Rescue (ACFR), their crews responded to the crash, along with Alachua County Sheriff’s Office, Florida Highway Patrol, and a ShandsCair helicopter.

An ACFR crew completed a technical extrication of an entrapped occupant of the sedan using the “Jaws of Life” and other specialized extrication tools, and one patient was flown to a local trauma center by the ShandsCair flight team; the other two occupants of the sedan were transported by ambulance by ACFR.

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