INDIAN RIVER COUNTY, Fla. — Four people are dead, including a 7-year-old boy, after a five-vehicle crash on Interstate 95 in Indian River County overnight Monday, the Florida Highway Patrol said.
All northbound lanes of I-95 were closed for hours in the area of mile marker 153 near Fellsmere, but reopened by 2 p.m.
The fatal wreck happened at approximately 2:15 a.m., according to the FHP.
The FHP said a 2009 Toyota Camry, driven by a 37-year-old Miami woman, rear-ended a 2001 Suzuki Vitara, driven by a 40-year-old Miami woman, in the northbound lanes.
"They became disabled in the roadway around the center lanes," Trooper Raeford Griffin told WPTV's Jon Shainman.
Moments later, while the vehicles were stopped on the highway, a 2012 Dodge Journey with six people inside, including four children under the age of 10, slammed into the Vitara.
The drivers of the Camry and Vitara got out of their cars to help the people inside the Journey. That's when a semi truck, driven by a 63-year-old Miami man, crashed into the Journey, which then caused a chain-reaction wreck with the other vehicles.
Griffin said that the the semi truck, “due to the lighting, was not able to see what was going on and struck the left side of the Dodge Journey."
The drivers of the Camry and Vitara were struck and killed, and one person was thrown from the Journey.
Following that crash, a 2022 Chrysler Pacifica, driven by a 27-year-old Canadian man, smashed into the Camry.
In addition to the drivers of the Camry and Vitara, a 7-year-old boy and 40-year-old woman, both from Palm Bay in Brevard County, who were inside the Dodge Journey tragically died.
In total, six people between all the vehicles were taken to the hospital, including a 2-month-old boy, 5-year-old boy, and 9-year-old girl in the Journey.
The FHP said the 9-year-old is in stable condition at St. Mary's Medical Center in West Palm Beach. Otherwise, the conditions of the other victims have not been released.
At this point, it doesn’t not appear any criminal charges will be filed but the investigation continues.
