FHP seeks semi driver related to crashes

The Florida Highway Patrol is seeking the public’s help in locating the driver of a semi tractor-trailer, possibly with the letters TELMP or TELPM, and a red or orange decal on the trailer door. Official say the driver left the scene of two crashes involving a death on March 20 on Interstate 75 north of Ocala.

According to the original FHP crash release, a gold-colored van driven by a 71-year-old Ocala man crashed into the rear of the tractor trailer on southbound I-75 in the center lane on March 20 around 10:08 p.m., about four miles north of State Road 326 at Mile Marker 362.

The tractor-trailer driver pulled off to the shoulder, but the disabled van remained in the roadway. Soon, the tractor-trailer driver “left the crash scene and continued traveling south on I-75, where the driver failed to report the crash or render assistance to the occupants of the van,” an FHP report stated.

The FHP release states that “moments later” the van was struck by a sedan driven by a 46-year-old Oviedo man, who was wearing a seat belt and suffered serious injuries.

The second crash caused fatal injuries to the van driver and serious injuries to all five passengers in the van, who were wearing seat belts, the FHP release stated.

The FHP asks that anyone with information about the two crashes, or who can help identify the tractor-trailer and/or its driver, call the FHP communications center at (800) 387-1290 or dial *FHP on cell phones.