News Features

Crashes Here, There, This Week

    Three serious crashes resulted in at least three people being airlifted to area hospitals. The crashes, all in or around the Umatilla area, resulted in temporary road closures in two cases as responders worked to provide care to the injured individuals and clear the scenes.
   On Thursday, September 25, around 12:30 a.m, the rider of an e-scooter was struck while traveling along SR 19 in downtown Umatilla. Umatilla Police reports state Craig King of Umatilla was northbound on SR 19 near Lone Star Street when he was struck by a vehicle driven by Matthew O’Conner of Apopka. King was injured in the impact, and was transported via Life Flight to Lake Monroe hospital in Sanford with injures reported as serious. The scooter was taken into evidence and transported from the scene by Almands Towing. O’Conner was charged with leaving the scene of a traffic crash involving serious bodily injury and transported to the Lake County Jail for processing.
   On Sunday, September 27, a man reportedly suffered serious injuries and was transported from the scene of a crash around 9 a.m. The incident occurred on CR 450 NE south of the CR 42 intersection, when a tanker truck left the road and overturned. It was reported the truck driver was airlifted from the scene. The road was closed while the crash was cleared, with the truck, in pieces after the crash, being towed from the scene later in the day.
   On Monday, September 28, at around 6:30 p.m. a crash occurred on CR 450A, where a crash occurred east of the Magnolia Pointe housing development. The crash resulted in multiple injuries, with at least one person airlifted from the scene. A witness to the crash reported mulitple injures after a vehicle driving erratically eastbound made contact with a westbound vehicle, with another westbound vehicle also involved.
   None of the crashes involved fatalities. The Florida Highway Patrol, which oversaw the crashes on Sunday and Monday, does not release names of those involved in such incidents.