Road Ranger Survives Crash On Frankland Bridge
Michael Babboni
Trucking Accidents
On Thursday morning, May 26, 2015, Omer Duncan, a Road Ranger patrolling the Frankland Bridge was hit by a pickup truck. He was sent to St Joseph’s hospital and has remained in critical condition.The Road Rangers are a free public service provided by the Florida Department of Transportation. Rangers, like Duncan, patrol certain areas, in a rotating shift cycle to provide roadside service to victims of car crashes in order to reduce traffic delays and provide safety to motorists 24 hours a day. In the 16 years Road Rangers have been operating, they have helped provided assistance for 4.3 million accidents. Unfortunately, the job is not always safe and two rangers have been killed along the side of the highway since 2000.
Duncan, who’s shift began at 5:30am, was assigned to patrol Interstate 275 from 54th Avenue N in Pinellas County to Kennedy Boulevard in Tampa on Thursday. His route included the Frankland Bridge. According to Romona Burke of the Florida Department of Transportation, because of the high volume of accidents, the Frankland Bridge is covered 24 hours by rangers. Duncan had worked along the bridge many times.
At around 7:00 am Duncan responded to a routine accident at mile marker 39 on the bridge. A Chevrolet modeled sedan had rear-ended a Dodge pickup truck. Spotting the accident, Duncan pulled his service truck over to begin assisting. While working the site, Duncan’s truck was hit from the side by a Ford F-450 Utility truck carrying drywall supplies, which knocked the sedan into the pickup truck and the pickup truck into Duncan. The accident also caused the utility truck to roll on its side.
Duncan was immediately rushed to the hospital with non-debilitating injuries. On Thursday evening, the Florida Highway Patrol tweeted he was in critical condition.
The driver of the Ford F-450, Ryan Paul Mistal, an employee for Allied Build Products Corporation, was driving his work vehicle. According to the accident report, police cited Mistal from careless driving and failure to carry a driver’s license. Mistal did not sustain any injuries, neither did the owners of the Chevrolet sedan or Dodge pickup truck.
Rob Lee, Duncan’s supervisor stated the accident was probably the result of distracted driving, a common cause of accidents in Tampa.
A spokesman for the Florida Department of Transportation, David Botello, stated that the accident could have been fatal. However, according to the Duncan’s doctors, he was leaning over at the time of the accident, which may have saved his life.
Botello stated to the press on Friday morning, “I think doctors were saying that because he leaned over … just a foot to log the call, that might've been what saved his life.”
Duncan, a 53 year old resident of Pinellas Park, had worked for the Road Rangers since 2008. As a contractor with Anchor Towing and Marine Transport Broward, he enjoyed working as a Road Ranger. One of 50 Road Rangers patrolling the local area, Duncan had gained a reputation for friendly and outgoing customer service.
On Friday Burke said of Duncan, "He's been one of our long-term guys. He's done excellent work. People love him.” and that Duncan “loves his job. He loves helping people.”
Duncan who still remains in St Joseph’s Hospital, could not be reached for comment and there is currently no further information about his condition.
The accident also caused State Highway Patrol to close several southbound lanes on Frankland Bridge. Only one lane was left open for morning commuters which caused long delays and traffic backups for several hours. Around 11 am, the road was cleared from the accident and the lanes were safely reopened.