In a sobering start to the New Year, a Road Ranger was killed and two Florida Highway Patrol troopers were injured today during an interstate crash in Hollywood. The incident occurred on southbound Interstate 95 at Hollywood Boulevard, as reported by NBC Miami. The chain-reaction crash involved two other vehicles, a 2012 white BMW X6 and a 2006 Honda Accord, which collided before striking the emergency responders' vehicles that were stationed to attend to an earlier crash.
The accident took place just after 3:30 a.m, and the sequence of events began when the Road Ranger, identified as a 28-year-old man from Pembroke Pines, and two troopers were responding to a crash when the two vehicles, following one another, crashed nearby—the BMW, failing to evade the Accord, slammed against a wall and subsequently collided with the Road Ranger's Ford F-250 service truck. This chain reaction in turn propelled the Ranger's vehicle into one of the marked FHP cruisers, which then struck the second FHP vehicle and the Road Ranger, who was situated between them, according to CBS Miami.
Hollywood Fire Rescue declared the Road Ranger deceased at the scene; the two troopers, both from Davie, and the driver of the Honda were described as having sustained "non-incapacitating" injuries, with the BMW's driver remaining unharmed.
The Road Ranger Service Patrol is funded by the Florida Department of Transportation and its partners; the affected ranger was facilitating safety measures on one of the nation's busiest thoroughfares when the crash occurred, shutting down southbound lanes of I-95 for hours during the ensuing investigation. As the investigation into the exact causes of the crash continues, FHP spokeswoman Lt. Indiana Miranda relayed details of the chain-reaction dynamics that led up to the fatal encounter between the BMW and Road Ranger's service vehicle.
