WILLOW OAK, Fla. – Two people were killed and multiple others were injured Tuesday morning in a two-vehicle wreck in Polk County, sheriff’s officials said.
The double fatal crash happened around 5:40 a.m. on State Road 60 at Pine Grove Road in Willow Oak near Mulberry.
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The Polk County Sheriff’s Office said a red pickup truck driven by a Bartow High School senior and a Ford Expedition carrying seven people collided.
According to Polk County Sheriff Grady Judd, four people in the SUV were ejected in the crash.
“Two of them landed in the road and two of them landed in the woodline,” Judd said.
The high school senior was airlifted, along with one other person, the sheriff said. Five others were taken to a hospital by ambulance.
“From every indication early on, the silver Expedition was picking up some of his (the driver’s) team. They worked in construction. And he just apparently failed to see this red pickup truck,” the sheriff said. “It’s a horrible crash.”
Officials said 24-year-old Elmer Giron-Canil, who was driving the Ford Expedition, was arrested and faces charges of negligently operating a motor vehicle without a driver’s license and causing serious injury or death to a person and driving without a valid license.
Judd said the surviving victims’ conditions range from stable to critical.
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“So this was a horrible day for one group of people to start their workday and one young lady who was trying to get to Bartow High School for school today,” he said.
The roadway reopened just before 11 a.m.
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