TWO DEAD IN
EARLY-MORNING CRASH ON NW 39TH AVE. IN GAINSVILLE, FLORIDA. A CAR, WHICH WAS GOING NORTH ON 19TH STREET,
ATTEMPTED A LEFT TURN ONTO 39TH AVENUE AND CROSSED INTO THE PATH OF A TRUCK AS
IT TRAVELED EAST.
Published: Friday, January 16, 2015 at 8:05 a.m.
Last Modified: Friday, January 16, 2015 at 1:59 p.m.
Two Gainesville men were killed early Friday after the
sedan they were traveling in was broadsided on Northwest 39th Avenue by a
cement truck with a full load.
On Friday afternoon, the Gainesville Police Department
identified those killed as John Lee Little Jr., 24, the driver of the Lincoln
Town Car; and Donte’ Mandel Bradley-Faulk, 23, a passenger.
Also in the car, Terrell Marquis Bradley, 23, of
Gainesville, was critically injured; and Rodrick Marvin Thompson Jr., 23, of
Gainesville, received non-life-threatening injuries.
The driver of the cement truck, 33-year-old Jamie M.
Reed, of Gainesville, received minor injuries and will not face charges from
the crash, said Officer Ben Tobias, a GPD spokesman.
Residents who live near the intersection of 39th Avenue
and 19th Street said they heard a loud explosion at 3:53 a.m. GPD accident
investigators said the car, which was going north on 19th Street, attempted a
left turn onto 39th Avenue and crossed into the path of the truck as it
traveled east.
Debris was scattered across the five-lane thoroughfare.
The mangled Lincoln was pushed roughly 400 feet to the east, where the
conjoined vehicles came to rest in a left turn lane. The speed limit on that
stretch of 39th Avenue is 45 mph; however, the speed of the truck was still
being determined late Friday morning. There were no skid marks indicating that
either driver attempted to stop before the collision occurred.
“That truck pretty much rolled to a stop,” Tobias said.
“There were no brakes used.”