FDLE Investigating I75?

[Guest]

http://www.cnn.com/2012/01/29/us/florida-fatal-crashes/?hpt=hp_c1

(CNN) -- Florida authorities had reopened a section of Interstate 75 barely half an hour before a pileup on the smoke-shrouded highway that killed 10 people over the weekend, a state Highway Patrol spokesman said Monday.

The interstate was closed for about three hours early Sunday, after a pair of late-Saturday crashes on I-75 and nearby U.S. 441, just south of Gainesville, Lt. Patrick Riordan told reporters Monday afternoon. Troopers, state Department of Transportation officials and local sheriff's deputies reopened the road after determining that conditions were improving, he said.

Riordan said the interstate reopened at 3:26 a.m. Thirty-three minutes later, callers began to report chain-reaction crashes in both the north and southbound lanes of I-75.

"I can't see anything. It's so dense -- the fog is so dense -- and we just hit a guardrail, and I think there was another accident behind us," the first caller told an Alachua County sheriff's dispatcher.

The bangs of several subsequent crashes could be heard in the background of nearly 13 minutes of 911 recordings released Monday. The voices on the calls reflected the fear and confusion of the predawn scene.

"Here comes another one. He's coming too fast. Here comes another one. Oh, yep -- see, there he goes ... that one was a bad one," one woman told dispatchers.

In the end, at least 12 passenger cars and seven semis were involved in the crashes. Subsequent fires burned three of the 10 dead "to a point where positive ID has been a hurdle for us," Riordan said. He said state troopers "did their due diligence" before reopening the road, but, "Sometime after the roadway was reopened, the conditions changed quickly."

In the wake of the crashes, he said the Highway Patrol would "review this situation and determine if our process needs to be changed."

"Certainly, we're open to that," he said. But he added, "All drivers need to be prepared to change their driving based on the roadway conditions."

Florida Gov. Rick Scott said he has asked the state Department of Law Enforcement to investigate the circumstances behind the crash, promising to make "any and all resources" available for the investigation.

"We will also fully cooperate with any federal investigation which may occur," Scott said in a written statement. "During this tragic time, our thoughts and prayers should be with the victims and their families."

Steven Camps, one of the survivors, told CNN that all he could hear after the crashes stopped was the sound of crying. The air, heavy with smoke, shone red from vehicle fires.

"It was just so crazy," he said. "We were just sitting in the car, and all of this came out of nowhere."

Camps said he was returning to Gainesville from Micanopy, about 12 miles away, with a friend early Sunday when traffic came to a stop on the interstate in what looked like heavy fog. He was a passenger in the car, and said they were talking to a man in a stopped car in the next lane about the low visibility when they began hearing crashes from behind them.

The car next to them "literally almost went under (a) semi-truck," he said. "We saw that guy die after talking to him before we could even react."

He said the car he was riding in was then struck twice. He was not hurt badly, but his friend could "barely even move," he said. Camps pulled his friend from their car, which wound up wedged between two tractor-trailers, to the median, where they prayed that another car would not leave the roadway and hit them.

"As it was happening on the northbound side, it was happening on the southbound side as well," he said. "There was nowhere to go. It was just cars hitting cars and cars."

The Miami-to-Michigan interstate was open again Monday, but the National Weather Services said patches of smoke were likely to hang over the area into Tuesday.

The smoke is from a brush fire at the nearby Paynes Prairie Preserve State Park. The blaze, called the Boardwalk Fire, was 100% contained but was not considered controlled, Ludie Bond, wildfire mitigation specialist for the Gainesville area, said Monday.

While fire lines were in place, active smoke could linger for weeks to months, she said.

Camps said he received stitches in his leg and was released from a hospital. He said his friend was still hospitalized but may be released soon. He said he was "blessed" -- "If you saw the car, you'd be like, 'How did you live?' "

Shands Hospital at the University of Florida received a total of 18 patients, six with serious injuries, said Dr. Timothy Flynn, the hospital's chief medical officer. Eight of the remaining 12 were treated and released, he said.

The Florida Highway Patrol said Monday that a total of 21 people were taken to hospitals.

[Guest]

That should tell you what the Gov thinks of FHP.

[Guest]

That should tell you what the Gov thinks of FHP.

The Governor needs to look in the mirror and say why in the world did I cut the amount of Troopers on the road in Florida and why did I cut funding to FHP.

Less Troopers on the Interstate to handle call for service the greater the danger when incidents occur. Case closed.

[Guest]

That should tell you what the Gov thinks of FHP.

The Governor needs to look in the mirror and say why in the world did I cut the amount of Troopers on the road in Florida and why did I cut funding to FHP.

Less Troopers on the Interstate to handle call for service the greater the danger when incidents occur. Case closed.

Trust me, that will not happen. What always happens within FHP? The lowest of the low are blamed! That means the troopers!

[Guest]

Looks like Brierton's days may be numbered.

First he was in charge over the botched FBI fatality in Broward County.

Second he was a Lt. Col. when the big I-4 Fatal crashes occurred.

Three he is now the colonel in charge of FHP and this I-75 fatal that resulted from a botched call to open the road.

Good Bye Dave, it will be good to you go.

[Guest]

Sounds like he gets promoted after each incident.

It's either not his fault, or he does a great job investigating the tragedies.

[Guest]

Tricky Ricky is lost in space

[Guest]

Looks like FHP is gonna get disbanded after this. Wonder if FDLE will make Kelly a Lt Colonel with them when they take over?

[So Fla Trooper]

Looks like FHP is gonna get disbanded after this. Wonder if FDLE will make Kelly a Lt Colonel with them when they take over?

And you're a fool to make such a statement. FDLE (affectionately known by us as "The Alphabet Police") wouldn't be so dense as to rely on former troopers with limited experience now working as agents to assist them in their investigation, so what are they going to do, if anything? Review our policy, make suggestions, and that will be it. Go away, troll.

[Paperboy]

Hate to tell you genius but FDLE has agents that are former THI with over 100 THI experience and are reconstructionists. David Staley is one of them so I think they have the ability to investigate this and show how FHP screwed up. All it takes is the tapes from dispatch, dispatch recorded phone calls and videos from any patrol cars. Even you could fiqure out that the staff in Troop B should be replaced and FHP should be sued.

[guest72]

That should tell you what the Gov thinks of FHP.

The Governor needs to look in the mirror and say why in the world did I cut the amount of Troopers on the road in Florida and why did I cut funding to FHP.

Less Troopers on the Interstate to handle call for service the greater the danger when incidents occur. Case closed.

I'm not defending the governor, but the blame lies with the members of the florida legislature.

[Guest]

The Florida Highway Patrol is a liability to the State of Florida and a danger to it's citizens and visitors, as witnessed by the chain of events that un-folded in Alachua County. The FHP provides little to know service and what little bit it does provide is sub-standard and well outside of the most recent and accepted law enforcement best practices. At this point the only reason it exsists is because 1) The North Florida Sheriff's want a state subsidized traffic division to work all of their crashes, and 2) The counties love the money generated by the ticket revenues, (which the Sheriff's also love becuse their deputies don't have to look like the bad guys). So FHP is really just a group of highway tax collectors that serves as servants to the Sheriffs.

Blame it on the legislature or whoever you want, the fact still remains that the Florida Highway Patrol is a dysfuncutional mess and needs to be totally rebuilt from the ground up or just done away with.

I would not hold my breath on them re-building.

[Guest]

Hate to tell you genius but FDLE has agents that are former THI with over 100 THI experience and are reconstructionists. David Staley is one of them so I think they have the ability to investigate this and show how FHP screwed up. All it takes is the tapes from dispatch, dispatch recorded phone calls and videos from any patrol cars. Even you could fiqure out that the staff in Troop B should be replaced and FHP should be sued.

LMAO THI recon in fdle, gimme a break good god lmao theres not a single certified reconstructionist in fdle , please don't reply back you just make yourself look stupid. Don't use the word reconstructionist unless you know the qualifications and being THI or advanced THI is a far cry from cert recon

[So Fla Trooper]

Hate to tell you genius but FDLE has agents that are former THI with over 100 THI experience and are reconstructionists. David Staley is one of them so I think they have the ability to investigate this and show how FHP screwed up. All it takes is the tapes from dispatch, dispatch recorded phone calls and videos from any patrol cars. Even you could fiqure out that the staff in Troop B should be replaced and FHP should be sued.

LMAO THI recon in fdle, gimme a break good god lmao theres not a single certified reconstructionist in fdle , please don't reply back you just make yourself look stupid. Don't use the word reconstructionist unless you know the qualifications and being THI or advanced THI is a far cry from cert recon

Exactly. Another one who 'thinks he knows.'

[FHP Reform]

Hate to tell you genius but FDLE has agents that are former THI with over 100 THI experience and are reconstructionists. David Staley is one of them so I think they have the ability to investigate this and show how FHP screwed up. All it takes is the tapes from dispatch, dispatch recorded phone calls and videos from any patrol cars. Even you could fiqure out that the staff in Troop B should be replaced and FHP should be sued.

LMAO THI recon in fdle, gimme a break good god lmao theres not a single certified reconstructionist in fdle , please don't reply back you just make yourself look stupid. Don't use the word reconstructionist unless you know the qualifications and being THI or advanced THI is a far cry from cert recon

Exactly. Another one who 'thinks he knows.'

Dumb arse hate to pop your bubble David and I went through recon together at that joke we call an academy. Even though it’s been over a year since he worked on and your right his reconstruction certification has lapsed he could do it with no problem. Believe me FHP is not the end all organization you think it is and even a deputy could investigate this and come up with better end result than you could or most people at FHP could come up with. Working with FHP I learned there isn’t an investigation made by FHP that can’t be over turned because of their inept investigations.