Driver dies when dump truck flips over and burns on I-275. Police officers tried to save him
The driver of a semi-truck was killed after his vehicle flipped over on Interstate 275 in Manatee County and was engulfed in flames.
The Florida Highway Patrol identified the deceased late Monday night as Reynaldo Rodriguez, 49, of Tampa.
At about 10:45 a.m. Monday, the driver of the 2007 dump truck was headed north on the interstate just west of the U.S. 41 interchange and about three miles east of the Sunshine Skyway Bridge when the truck went off the road, according to the Florida Highway Patrol. Rodriguez tried to correct and steered the truck back to the left, but instead he lost control and flipped the truck on its side on the right grassy shoulder.
Two St. Petersburg police officers tried to pull Rodriguez out of the truck, but couldn’t “due to the angle of the entrapment,” according to a FHP news release. The truck caught fire, forcing the officers to back away, and killed Rodriguez inside.
Traffic delays persisted two hours later, however, with only the charred remains of the semi-truck visible alongside the interstate and only one lane of traffic moving slowly past as as troopers investigated the crash.
This story was originally published January 20, 2020 at 1:37 PM.
