Man who recorded deadly wrong-way crash speaks

Sunday night crash leaves 2 drivers dead

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – After trying to stop the driver responsible for the wrong-way crash that left that man and other person dead, the man and his girlfriend who recorded the horrific incident on a cellphone are still trying to recover from what they saw.

Jeff Orillaza and his girlfriend are both still very shaken up. Orillaza said it's been a difficult day at work for both of them, thinking back to Sunday night when they saw a car speeding through oncoming traffic with its lights off. They knew things weren't going to end well.

"Seeing this incident, it takes me back to, 'never take life for granted,'" Orillaza said.
That driver has been identified as 27-year-old James Bibb, from Atlanta. Troopers believe Bibb got onto the JTB at either the Interstate 95 interchange or the Belfort Road exit.

According to police records, Bibb had been arrested twice for driving under the influence.

The other driver was 50-year-old Philip Dennis. Both men died at the scene.

Orillaza said he and his girlfriend will never forget that moment when they spotted Bibb's SUV going the wrong way Sunday night.

He says all he could think about was shooting video with his phone and calling 911.

"I was on the phone with dispatch. I was explaining to them that there was a car on the wrong side of JTB. Within five seconds, boom," Orillaza said.

Bibb's car hit Dennis' car head-on, and Orillaza remembers seeing smoke and hearing the sirens. Right now, investigators are trying to find out if Bibb was impaired at the time of the crash.

Orillaza is still at a loss for words on how this happened.

"He would have known how to get on that wrong side and drive straight. He was in the middle lane the whole entire time. Cars were going by the whole time," Orillaza said.

Throughout the night, Orillaza and his girlfriend got up to check online for updates on the crash. The images of what he saw have been in his head all day.

"The worst part about it was I had to drive through that particular area on the way to work. from Kernan at JTB. It gave me the chills," Orillaza said. "It's awful. Sometimes you just go back to saying, 'you never know when your time is up.'"
 


About the Author:

Ashley Harding joined the Channel 4 news team in March 2013. She reports for and anchors The Morning Show.