Troopers from the Florida Highway Patrol (FHP) continue to investigate a fatality crash that occurred at approximately 1:14 a.m. on Saturday, June 18, 2022.
A Trooper from the FHP observed a 2003 Lexus ES300 driving erratically along I-275 near Milepost 30. The Trooper, suspecting the driver was impaired, attempted a traffic stop. The driver of the Lexus fled across the Howard Frankland Bridge at high speed with the Trooper in pursuit.
The driver continued to the Tampa airport, stopped and allowed two adult female passengers to exit the vehicle. The driver then reversed and intentionally collided with the front of the Trooper’s patrol car He then began to travel southbound in the northbound lanes of George J Bean Parkway, north of Spruce Street.
The driver of a second vehicle, a Chevy Silverado, was traveling northbound along George J Bean Parkway and was struck nearly head-on by the Lexus.
After the impact, the Lexus rotated to final rest in the travel lanes while the Chevy rotated to the shoulder and collided with a guardrail.
The driver of the Lexus, a 33 year-old male from St. Petersburg, was transported to an area hospital and later died from his injuries.
The 46 year-old male from Riverview and driver of the Chevy reportedly only suffered minor injuries.
The inbound parkway to Tampa International was closed and did reopen at approximately 4:45 a.m. Vehicles were detoured to use Bessie Coleman Blvd/Airport Access Road to access the airport.
FHP has not released the name of the driver of the Lexus. The Florida Highway Patrol’s policy is to withhold the names of all parties involved in crashes due to Marsy’s Law. This law, passed by the Florida voters in 2018, was meant to protect crime victims. FHP has expanded and provided this protection even to those that have been arrested and caused the death of others in recent DUI cases. Their interpretation deprives the public of information that had always been available as part of the state’s public records law.