SOUTH MIAMI, FLA. (WSVN) - Two pedestrians were struck by two vehicles on the sidewalk near the intersection of Sunset Drive and U.S. 1, in South Miami, Friday.
According to Miami-Dade Fire Rescue, the two men were walking on the sidewalk, on the 5700 block of South Dixie Highway, near the road’s intersection with Sunset Drive, when they were hit by two vehicles following a chain reaction crash, at around 11:45 a.m.
Two of the cars that crashed then jumped the curb and ended up on the sidewalk, exactly where the two men were walking when they were hit. South Miami Police said three cars were involved in the crash.
One victim was airlifted to Kendall Regional Hospital in critical condition. The other victim was taken by ambulance to Jackson Memorial Hospital.
The pedestrians were not doing anything wrong, according to police.
“I stepped out of the car, and there were two on the ground there,” said driver George Ucheck. “I’m praying that the people that were affected today are safe and make a safe recovery.”
“It’s very unfortunate, you know,” said South Miami Police Capt. Larry Corbin. “There’s a lot of sidewalk down U.S. 1, and they just happened to be in the wrong place of it. Unfortunately, two vehicles ended up coming up to the sidewalk in the same location they were walking.”
The cause of the crash, and why the cars went out of control, remains under investigation.
One driver said his tires blew out, so he couldn’t control his car. He tried to avoid the pedestrians, he said.
“Next thing I know, I ran into a wall at 40 mph, and my car is totaled,” Ucheck said.
Because South Miami Police do not have their own traffic homicide unit, they called out Miami-Dade Police, who arrived around 5 p.m.
The northbound lanes of U.S. 1 in front of The Shops of Sunset Place were shut down for more than eight hours.
According to police, the northbound lanes will be closed for a couple more hours due to traffic homicide detectives who are on their way to figure out exactly what happened.
Copyright 2024 Sunbeam Television Corp. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.