LAUDERDALE-BY-THE-SEA, FLA. (WSVN) - Authorities are investigating a multi-vehicle crash in Lauderdale-by-the-Sea that left one person dead, sent two others to the hospital and led to hours-long traffic closures.
Broward Sheriff’s Office deputies and Lauderdale-by-the-Sea Police and Fire Rescue units responded to the scene of the six-vehicle wreck in the area of North Ocean Drive and Commercial Boulevard, at around 6:25 p.m., Saturday.
Witnesses described the chaotic collision.
“I was scared, because I heard the ‘bang, bang, bang,’ and then I see things flying all over the place,” said Lily DeCoste.
“It was horrible. It was like – it sounded like death,” said Marck Mangel.
7News cameras captured three of the vehicles that were involved: a white Mercedes-Benz sedan, a gray Toyota minivan and a gray pickup truck with a yellow tarp on the driver’s side.
Witnesses said the driver of the truck plowed into the other vehicles involved, creating a chain-reaction crash.
“The truck over there was speeding and going on the sidewalk and clipped some cars there and, you know, like a domino thing: hit here, hit there,” said DeCoste.
Mangel said he was working with his band at a restaurant just feet away when he heard the crash and rushed over to help.
“We had to stop playing, and a bunch of people rushed to go help and make sure everything was all right,” he said. “I was there, too, but it was already too late for the gentleman.”
Witnesses said the driver of the pickup truck was the one who was killed.
Paramedics transported two other victims to an area hospital in unknown conditions.
Deputies shut down North Ocean Drive at Commercial Boulevard in both directions while they investigated. The roadway has since reopened to traffic.
BSO traffic homicide detectives said the Broward County Medical Examiner’s Office will determine the driver’s cause of death.
Copyright 2024 Sunbeam Television Corp. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.