NewsLocal News

Actions

Multi-vehicle traffic crash shut down Courtney Campbell Causeway for 2 hours

Posted at 1:13 PM, Jul 07, 2018
and last updated 2018-07-07 13:17:16-04

A motorist dealing with a recent breakup sparked a multi-vehicle traffic crash on the Courtney Campbell Causeway early Saturday morning, authorities said. 

Two people went to area hospitals for treatment of serious, non-life threatening injuries, and a two-month-old puppy in one of the vehicles involved died, the Tampa Police Department said. The despondent driver was taken into involuntary protective custody commonly known as Baker Act, and

Tampa police officers received a call about 2 a.m. Saturday to respond to a multi-vehicle traffic accident in the westbound lanes of the causeway at the Pinellas-Hillsborough county line.

A preliminary investigation revealed a driver upset about a recent breakup intentionally veered his vehicle into the concrete median wall, a Tampa Police Department news release said.

Five other vehicles traveling westbound on the causeway collided with the first vehicle, causing a chain reaction crash, the release said.

Westbound lanes on the causeway were closed to traffic for about two hours, but reopened before daybreak Saturday.