TAMPA, Fla. — Two separate crashes, one of them deadly, along the Howard Frankland Bridge caused major slowdowns for commuters Monday morning.
The deadly crash happened along northbound Interstate 275 at the Kennedy Boulevard exit, according to a Florida Highway Patrol crash report. Two people were killed.
Troopers say a 51-year-old man from Clearwater, Florida, was driving his pickup truck northbound on the I-275 exit ramp, approaching five other cars that were stopped in traffic. The man was looking down at his phone and failed to see the stopped cars, according to the report.
He crashed into a sedan with a 53-year-old female driver and a 39-year-old male passenger inside. Troopers say the sedan was pushed forward, causing the truck and car to crash into the other four vehicles in front.
Both the female driver, who wasn't wearing a seatbelt, and the male passenger in the sedan died from their injuries at the crash scene, FHP reports. The pickup truck driver was only left with minor injuries.
The people in the four other cars were left with injuries ranging from minor to serious.
Northbound lanes of I-275 were closed for several hours but have since reopened.
Earlier in the morning, around 7:15 a.m., a different crash happened along the Howard Frankland Bridge on southbound Interstate 275. Cameras showed traffic was backed up for hours, but the conditions have since improved.
Florida Highway Patrol says that the crash involved injuries. However, it isn't known yet how many cars were involved or the extent of those injuries.
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