U.S. 27 Crash Leaves 4 Hospitalized

Two adults and two children were hospitalized Saturday night after a minivan and an orange transporter truck collided in front of the Golden Corral restaurant on U.S. 27 in Lake Placid, according to Emergency Medical Services.

Two children were airlifted to Tampa General Hospital and the two adults were taken to Florida Hospital Lake Placid, EMS said.

While some witnesses claim responders took about 20 minutes to arrive, EMS reports getting to the scene in six minutes.

Golden Corral's General Manager Ray Tharp did not see the crash but was at the scene with his wife trying to help the victims.

"The little girl was in the grass bleeding," he said. "It was a very gruesome accident."

He said she was covered in grass, and it appeared she had been thrown from the vehicle.

A little boy was pinned in the back of the van. His mother was trapped in the front seat and had to be extricated. The father, who it appeared was the driver, was outside, but seemed to be suffering from rib damage and was having trouble breathing, he added.

"It was so hectic," Tharp said. "So many citizens helped them before (EMS) got there."

The Hispanic family did not appear to speak English, said Tharp. His wife was trying to comfort the little girl, but went to speak to the little boy when he appeared to be losing consciousness. Later other Spanish speakers arrived, Tharp said.

Based on the damage he saw, he believed the van tried to turn onto East Phoenix Avenue from U.S. 27, and was hit by the southbound truck.

Lake Placid Police Chief Phil Williams said Monday he was taking a class at the Emergency Operations Center, the police station was closed and the crash report was not available until Tuesday.

Scott Daisey and his wife, Theresa, said they saw the impact.

Scott Daisey said the orange truck passed the restaurant very quickly before the truck struck the minivan.

"It was really bad," said Daisey. "The truck flipped (the minivan) in the air and hit a second time. Everybody in the restaurant heard the second impact.

"We called 911. It rang about 20 times."

Daisey said the dispatcher finally answered and asked where the crash was and other details and he told her.

"She said she had to transfer it to Highlands County," Daisey said.

He had no idea where the dispatch he had reached was at, but said it seemed to take even more time to transfer it back.

People at the scene were calling 911 and the Sheriff's Office, he said.

"Every one of us called the (sheriff's office) three times," he said. "We did the whole thing again 10 minutes later. They made me go through the whole thing all over again."

Sheriff Susan Benton said Monday that she will look into the matter.

Sometimes cell phone calls get picked up by towers in other counties, and sometimes if the dispatchers are too busy, calls get transferred to other counties, she said.

Emergency Medical Services Director Steve Coltharp said it was an unusually busy shift on Saturday and helicopters actually flew patients from three different wrecks Saturday to trauma centers.

"We could have flown two more but we ran out of helicopters," he said.

The Highlands County Sheriff's dispatchers received the call at 7:58 p.m., according to Doug Pifer, EMS shift supervisor. He said the EMS ambulance arrived at the scene six minutes later.

The call was received at 7:58 p.m., was dispatched at 7:59 p.m. and the first EMS unit was at the scene at 8:04, Pifer said. It came from the Tomoka Heights station.

"That's a five-minute response time," Coltharp said. "We count it from the time the call is dispatched."

A second ambulance arrived on scene after it was dispatched from the scene of a house fire at Highway Park.