Sumter County Fire & EMS
Sumter chain
reaction crash
A Summerfield woman
was killed Tuesday and nine people were injured after a chain-reaction crash on
Interstate 75 in Sumter County.
WEDNESDAY, JUNE 24,
2015
BUSHNELL, FLORIDA
Authorities have
identified a Summerfield woman who was killed Tuesday when her Mercury Sable
was rear-ended by a tractor-trailer in a crash that left both vehicles on fire
along Interstate 75.
Cynthia Wimmer, 58,
died at the scene in a chain-reaction crash that had traffic backed up for 8
miles, according to Florida Highway Patrol report released Wednesday.
Nine other people
received minor injuries.
Five of the injured
were local residents in a car and camper struck by the same tractor-trailer
that rear-ended Wimmer. They were identified as the Mangan family of The
Villages — Connie, 68, Joseph, 68, Madeline, 10, Avery, 6, and family friend
Kennedy Raine, 6.
According to a
preliminary FHP report, the tractor-trailer was hauling oranges sou th on I-75
when it came upon idle traffic that was being diverted off the interstate due
to a previous crash under the Exit 309 overpass.
The truck driver,
Richard Holland, 52, of Villa Rica, Ga., failed to stop for the traffic and
rear-ended Wimmer’s Sable, the FHP report states. His rig rolled on top of her
car and both vehicles veered into the wood line and erupted in flames.
Holland’s tractor
trailer continued to roll and collided with the Mangan family’s Toyota Camry,
driven by Connie. The rig then struck another vehicle, a GMC Si erra, and
jackknifed.
The driver of the
Sierra, Brenda Lipply, 48, and three of her passengers, all of Tallahassee,
also sustained minor injuries. All Lipply family members, John, 56, Jordyn, 13,
and Sydney, 12, were taken to Bayfront Health Brooksville.
Holland, as well as
the driver of a fifth vehicle involved in the crash, were not injured.
According to Leland
Greek, Sumter County fire chief, seven trucks responded and it took
firefighters about 20 minutes to extinguish the blaze.
It is not clear why
Holland didn’t slow down.
“(The) crash
occurred on a straight and level roadway,” said Sgt. Steve Gaskins, FPH
spokesman for Sumter County.
The crash remains
under investigation.
Wimmer was the
second person killed in a Sumter crash on Tuesday who was identified Wednesday.
A 52-year-old pedestrian was killed Tuesday after he was struck by a car near
I-75.
Velija Ascic of St.
Louis, Missouri, died at the scene. That crash occurred in Wildwood about 10:30
p.m.
According to the
FHP, Ascic was attempting to cross State Road 44 near I-75 from the north. As
he entered the outside westbound lane, he was hit by a Nissan Altima.
The driver,
24-year-old Jalisa Shuntel Jones of Ocala, was taken to Citrus Memorial
Hospital with minor injuries.
The crash remains
under investigation.