SEFFNER, Fla. — A wrong-way crash involving multiple vehicles on Interstate 4 caused major delays for commuters Friday morning.
The crash happened around 3:45 a.m. near Kingsway Road on westbound I-4 in Seffner, according to the Florida Highway Patrol. After being closed to traffic for hours, the westbound lanes reopened around 8:30 a.m.
Troopers say a wrong-way driver, identified as 22-year-old Arda Sengun from Sarasota, was heading eastbound in the westbound inside lane when they crashed into a Mercedes sedan.
A pickup truck driver hit their brakes to avoid the crash and was hit from behind by a flatbed truck, FHP says. This caused the pickup truck to spin out into the outside shoulder where it hit a parked tractor-trailer.
The flatbed truck flipped, trapping the driver inside for nearly two hours.
The man, whose condition is unknown, was pulled from the flatbed truck at about 5:33 a.m., according to a 10 Tampa Bay photographer at the scene. He was flown to the hospital in a medical helicopter. The three other drivers were transported to local hospitals with non-life-threatening injuries.
Sengun was arrested and charged with DUI with serious bodily injury, according to FHP.
The westbound lanes reopened to traffic around 8:30 a.m. after crash debris was removed from the interstate. Drivers were forced to use U.S. 92 and State Road 574 as alternate routes, which were slow going for hours.