ST. AUGUSTINE, Fla. – A deadly crash involving multiple vehicles shut down all lanes of Interstate 95 near the St. Augustine outlets for more than six hours Friday morning.
According to the Florida Highway Patrol, the crash happened at 1:20 a.m. just south of the overpass on I-95 at State Road 16. The driver of a northbound box truck died when he lost control and went over the median before coming back onto the highway.
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FHP Sgt. Dylan Bryan said a tractor-trailer, also headed north, swerved to avoid hitting the box truck, but clipped it and continued over the median, through the guardrail and crashed into the trees on the opposite side of the highway.
A Silverado pickup truck also headed north later ran into the box truck, which was carrying several thousand pounds of newspapers, which spilled all over the highway.
FHP reports the driver of the box truck, Charles Slattery, 63, of Edgewater, Florida, died in the crash.
The driver of the big rig, Jason Haynes, 30, of Jacksonville, was taken to Flagler Hospital with minor injuries. The driver of the pickup, Murray Jones, 63, of Fort Lauderdale, was taken to Flagler Hospital with serious injuries.
State troopers shut down all traffic and rerouted drivers off the highway at State Road 16. All northbound lanes were closed at State Road 207 until just before 7 a.m. Southbound lanes reopened around 8 a.m.
There were heavy delays on U.S. Highway 1. Some school traffic impacted include those off S.R. 16 between I-95 and U.S. 1: St. Augustine High School, Sebastian Middle School, and John A. Crookshank Elementary School.
Schools off of S.R. 207 including Ketterlinus Elementary, R.J. Murray Middle, The Webster School, Gaines Alternative and Transition schools could all be impacted as well.