FedEx Truck Driver Dies in Bizarre Orange County Traffic Incident

By Orlando Personal Injury Attorney on June 25, 2018

Authorities with the Florida Highway Patrol working within Orange County are considering much of what happened along the Florida Turnpike on Wednesday, June 20th, and that resulted in the death of a FedEx truck driver to be a freak accident. A report from the Florida Highway Patrol provides the majority of the known details in the incident, although there are still numerous questions that remain unanswered and an investigation into the accident remains underway.

It was shortly before 12:30 in the afternoon when a 61-year-old Ocala resident was behind the wheel of a FedEx truck and driving down the northern lanes of the Florida Turnpike. It is believed that the FedEx truck was following behind a truck pulling a flatbed semi-trailer loaded with sod. The two trucks were closing in on the 267th mile marker of the Florida Turnpike when something happened within one of the wheels of the semi-trailer.

It appears that within the wheel, the brake drum separated from the tire tread, making it so that the drum detached from the tire itself and fell to the asphalt. Because of the speed with which the vehicle was moving at this time, the falling drum struck the pavement with a considerable amount of force, and this caused the heavy piece of metal to ricochet off of the ground and back up through the air.

Shockingly, the drum’s trajectory took it high enough off of the ground to reach the windshield of the FedEx truck. It then burst through the windshield and struck the 61-year-old driver of the parcel delivery vehicle, inflicting severe wounds upon the individual.

Emergency response crews rushed to the scene and were able to extricate the FedEx Driver from their car and take them to Orlando Regional Medical Center. While it is believed that the driver was alive when he was admitted to the hospital, the report states that he was declared dead sometime after arriving at the medical facility.

The driver of the semi-truck, a 33-year-old from Mount Dora, was not in any way injured as a result of the broken brake drum.

At the time of this writing, it is not known if any charges are pending in the case.

James O. Cunningham

Since 1977, personal injury lawyer James Cunningham has provided effective legal advocacy to people who are injured through the negligent actions of another person or entity throughout the Central Florida area. He fights to obtain recoveries for his clients’ physical and emotional pain and suffering and pursues his clients’ personal injury cases with a commitment to excellence and impeccable preparation.