1 Dead In Crash That Left Truck Dangling From Ft. Laud. Overpass
FORT LAUDERDALE (CBSMiami) – Morning rush hour drivers in Ft. Lauderdale looked on in horror as they saw a bakery box truck dangling over I95 Wednesday morning.
The driver of the truck identified as 43 year old Buenaventura Fernandez works for Tracy Bakery in South Dade. FHP says he was exiting the ramp for State Road 84, clip a guardrail and ended up crashing through the retaining wall.
His passenger was killed.
According to the owner of the bakery, Fernandez is a family member and was supposed to be on his way to Tampa for a delivery.
"I'm very upset and stressed. It's upsetting to hear what happened. We don't know the story of how the accident occurred but when there's a fatality it's difficult to hear," said Mary Rodriguez.
Ft. Lauderdale's technical rescueteam had the difficult job of freeing the driver and then pulling the truck to solid ground.
"The driver was not panicking but concerned," says Battalion Chief David Carter.
"He was concerned about his friend but understood the situation he was in and was able to stay calm and take direction from our crews."
The big challenge in trying to pull the truck away from the edge is not to cause any more problems. "We don't want the vehicle to fall again. We don't want it to fall on our responders and we don't want the people to fall out of the vehicle."
CBS 4 looked into the driving record of the driver and found while Fernandez has a valid driver's license he is facing suspension for failure to pay traffic fines.
Last year he was cited for improper passing and careless driving and in 2010 for an improper turn
"Right now we just have to deal with the sadness of who was in that truck and deal with the recuperation of our family member," said Mary Rodriguez.
