First responder details second deadly wrong-way crash in Jacksonville in one day
Jacksonville Fire and Rescue Chief Robin Gainey was one of the first on the scene of the Hart Bridge crash. He says the wrong-way driver either entered using the Adams Street or Duval Street off-ramps downtown.
Author: Shelby Danielsen
Updated: 5:44 AM EDT August 3, 2018
JACKSONVILLE, Fla. —
Two wrong-way crashes took two lives in Jacksonville in just 24 hours. The first happened overnight Thursday in Mayport. The second collision happened just before 6 p.m. Thursday evening on the Hart Bridge.
The Florida Highway Patrol identified the victim who died from the Hart Bridge crash as 74-year-old Joan Kinsler. Four others were taken to the hospital with injuries.
FHP releases names in wrong-way crash on Hart Bridge. Sadly, 74-year-old Joan Kinsler was killed. 4 others were taken to the hospital with injuries. https://t.co/c3CJj9BN5n @FCN2go— Shelby Danielsen (@NewsShelby) August 3, 2018
Jacksonville Fire and Rescue Chief Robin Gainey was one of the first on the scene of the Hart Bridge crash. He says the wrong-way driver either entered using the Adams Street or Duval Street off-ramps downtown.
While FHP investigates, Chief Gainey says they watch people go the wrong way on Jacksonville roads on a daily basis, but he knew this latest crash was more severe than most.
“We had ladder trucks there to cut people out and plenty of personnel to take care of patients in the first few critical minutes,” said Gainey.
Gainey is part of JFRD’s special operations team, so he responds to some of the city’s biggest and deadliest calls for help.
“You can’t fix it, but you have to take and treat the individual with all the dignity that you can, it’s difficult,” he said.
Gainey said the wrong-way driver was in the black car on scene. It crashed into a white vehicle that was left teetering in the middle of the Hart Bridge. Four adults were inside. He believes the front passenger of that vehicle was killed immediately.
“We saw that it was an elderly lady, some of the guys are like 'This is someone’s grandma,' so it’s very disheartening to us,” Gainey said.
Hours earlier in Jacksonville, a wrong-way driver was killed in a fiery crash on the Wonderwood Bridge in Mayport.
FHP is still investigating that crash as well, but Gainey says he sees two factors most of the time in wrong-way collisions: Distracted driving causing people to miss the signs or "out-of-towners" who get turned around.
“We operate at a downtown fire station, we have one-way streets all over, we are surrounded by one-way streets, we have to tell people every day they are going the wrong way,” he said.
Gainey says the wrong-way driver on the Hart Bridge was incoherent when he approached. He was treated for severe injuries. The three other victims were also rushed to the hospital.
He says everyone was wearing a seatbelt and the airbags did deploy. From what witnesses told him, the impact was at a high rate of speed.
“You cannot change that which has occurred before we arrive, all we can do is affect change after we arrive and we want to make certain those who live to get the best treatment possible,” Gainey said.
Gainey says about a decade ago the city had installed flashing lights for drivers at on-ramps to alert them if they were going the wrong way with a sensor, but he says most, if not all, of those sensors, have been taken down over the last few years.
FHP has yet to identify the victims in these crashes.
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1 dead, 4 hurt in wrong-way crash on Hart Bridge ramp
4 vehicles involved; traffic headed downtown detoured for hours
A woman was killed and four other motorists were injured Thursday afternoon in a head-on crash of two SUVs on the downtown connector ramp from the Hart Bridge, according to the Florida Highway Patrol.
Troopers said a Nissan Rogue was headed south, from downtown toward the bridge, at 3:40 p.m. when it struck a northbound Chevrolet Equinox. Joan Kinsler, 74, a passenger in the Equinox, died at the scene and that SUV's driver and two other passengers -- all from the Tampa area -- were taken to UF Health Jacksonville.
The driver of the Rogue, Henok Mekonnen (pictured, above), of Jacksonville, was hospitalized at Memorial Medical Center with serious injuries. Troopers said the Rogue also struck another vehicle, and debris from the impact damaged a fourth vehicle. No one in those vehicles was injured.
According to the FHP report, charges against 52-year-old Mekonnen are pending.
Wendell Russ said the impact of the crash was enough to shake the warehouse where he works nearby.
"We heard a big thump," Russ said. "We walked out (of the) the warehouse and saw a truck all up on the edge."
Traffic between bridge and downtown was at a standstill through early evening as dozens of emergency vehicles responded to the crash and the scene was investigated and cleared.
The crash occurred on August 2, which data from the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety shows on average is the one day of the year with the highest number of deadly crashes in the United States.
The collision happened hours after a man died and two girls were injured in a wrong-way crash on the Wonderwood Connector between Mayport and East Arlington.
According to the FHP, there were 89 calls about wrong-way drivers in Duval County between July 2017 and July 2018.