HILLSBOROUGH COUNTY, Fla. — A 33-year-old man from Ruskin is dead after his SUV crashed into the back of a tractor-trailer early Friday on Interstate 75 in Hillsborough County, Florida Highway Patrol troopers said.
The crash happened around 2:30 a.m. on southbound I-75 just south of Big Bend Road in the Sun City Center area.
Earlier overnight, just a little further south, the trailer of a car hauler had caught fire. When the driver noticed the fire, they pulled over to the outside shoulder of the interstate, stopped and detached the tractor from the trailer.
No one was hurt by the fire, but it did damage several of the cars and the trailer. All of this resulted in delays along I-75, troopers said.
Because of the traffic delays, a separate tractor-trailer stopped in traffic just south of Big Bend Road. The 33-year-old SUV driver reportedly failed to stop when the tractor-trailer stopped. Because of this, troopers said he collided with the back of the trailer.
He died from the injuries suffered from the crash, FHP said.
The crash resulted in a portion of southbound I-75 being shut down as authorities investigated the crash. This caused delays for several hours, with drivers being diverted off I-75 at Big Bend Road and others being encouraged to use alternate routes such as U.S. 301 and U.S. 41.
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