A crash near Bethlehem Road in the Mulberry area of Polk County left one person dead early Monday morning and shut down State Road 37 in both directions for hours before it reopened. The closure stretched through the morning commute, with emergency crews working the scene at 9995 State Road 37 South, about 10 miles south of Mulberry near the TECO Power Plant.
The crash happened around 6:10 a.m. Monday, according to Polk County Sheriff Grady Judd
, whose office and Polk County Fire Rescue were dispatched to the scene. At least two vehicles were involved and one person was confirmed dead, according to
tampabay28.com
, though the exact number of vehicles involved has not been confirmed — the station reported at least two, while preliminary information cited by dailyridge.com suggested emergency crews encountered three to four heavily damaged vehicles blocking the roadway.
Roadway Shut Down as Crews Worked the Scene
State Road 37 was closed in both directions as deputies and fire crews managed the aftermath, the station reported. The shutdown affected a stretch of highway that serves as a key route through the Bradley Junction area south of Mulberry, leaving drivers to find alternate paths during the closure.
Preliminary information indicated crews responded shortly after 6 a.m. and found the roadway blocked by the damaged vehicles, per the same account from dailyridge.com. One person was reportedly deceased at the scene, while another was trapped in a vehicle and had to be freed by firefighters using extrication equipment, the outlet reported.
Weather Grounded Helicopter, Patient Taken by Ground Ambulance
A medical helicopter was reportedly requested to the scene but could not respond because of weather conditions, according to dailyridge.com. One patient was instead transported by ground ambulance for treatment, the outlet reported, though the person's condition has not been independently verified.
By early afternoon, the sheriff's office announced the highway had reopened. “UPDATE (12:35 PM) SR 37 has been opened back up,” Polk County Sheriff Grady Judd posted on X, under the handle polkcosheriff. The exact time the road reopened beyond that update has not been independently verified.
Polk County authorities have not released the identities of the person killed or the injured patient, and no official cause of the crash has been confirmed. A report that a driver fled the scene on foot remains unconfirmed, and investigators have not indicated whether any search followed.
The Mulberry-area crash comes amid a statewide toll of thousands of fatal roadway collisions each year. Florida recorded 3,375 traffic deaths in 2023, down 5% from 3,553 in 2022, according to the state’s annual Traffic Crash Facts report. The statewide figures offer context for the fatality but do not indicate how often deadly crashes occur on SR 37 or what caused this collision.
Polk County’s Traffic Homicide Unit has handled other fatal-crash investigations that took months to develop. In one case, detectives investigating an April fatal hit-and-run used vehicle evidence, interviews and cell-phone records before making arrests in June. That Polk City investigation illustrates how evidence-gathering can continue well after a crash scene clears; it does not establish whether anyone fled Monday’s crash.
Florida law requires a long-form crash report when a collision results in a death or injury; the investigating officer must submit it to the state within 10 days after completing the investigation. The report includes the crash’s date, time and location, descriptions of the vehicles involved, and names of drivers, passengers and witnesses. The state’s crash-report statute sets out those requirements.
