Tragedy struck Haines City on a recent Wednesday afternoon when a severe crash on U.S. 27 took a life and left two individuals with serious injuries. As reported by FOX13 News, the Polk County Sheriff's Office and Haines City Fire Department responded to the incident near Morrison Ranch Road around 3:45 p.m.
The collision involved a head-on crash followed by an impact with a 1997 Kenworth truck, which was driven by Carlos Perez, a 54-year-old from Orlando who escaped the incident unharmed. The crash led to the closure of two southbound lanes of U.S. 27 for approximately four hours, meanwhile, the northbound lanes remained closed for about half an hour longer, impacting traffic heavily on both sides. Details from Daily Ridge specify that both vehicles, after colliding with each other, struck the Kenworth.
The victim, identified as Ms. Moore, was unfortunately not wearing a seatbelt and was ejected from her Chevy during the collision; she died at the crash site. The two other seriously injured parties were in a Dodge and have been identified as 63-year-old James Chadwick of Winter Haven and 59-year-old Shari Bissell from Orlando. They were quickly transported to the hospital following the accident. This information has been corroborated by WTSP, which also revealed that all three individuals involved, save for Ms. Moore, were wearing their seatbelts.
The circumstances that led to Ms. Moore losing control of her Chevy, proceeding then to cross the median into oncoming traffic, initiating the fatal events, are still not clear. According to preliminary investigations shared by officials and as reported by the Polk County Sheriff's Office, the accident is still under investigation. Throughout the ordeal and the resulting road closures, officials managed the flow of distraught vehicles, gradually reopening the lanes the same day to return the rhythm of life on U.S. 27 to its usual beat.
