A four-car pileup blocked all lanes of eastbound traffic on Interstate 4 Saturday, April 25.
At 8:12 a.m., a Florida Highway Patrol traffic homicide investigator was parked on the inside shoulder of eastbound I-4, just west of State Road 39, with his emergency lights activated taking measurements from a previous crash. At that time, a Cadillac, driven by Richard Granison, 55, of Tampa, slowed after seeing the FHP patrol car with its lights on.
A tractor trailer, driven by Michael Shultz, 24, of Spring Hill, didn’t slow and plowed into the back of the Cadillac. The Cadillac was propelled forward and collided with the rear of a pickup truck driven by Lorenzo Perez, 58, of Tampa.
Post-impact, the pickup truck overturned while Cadillac traveled off the roadway and struck a barrier wall.
A Chevy van traveling in the inside lane was struck by debris from the initial collision.
The driver of the Granison suffered minor injury and was transported to LRMC for medical care. The crash closed all eastbound lanes of I-4. Shultz was ticketed for careless driving.