TAMPA, Fla. – A late-night DUI car crash took the life of a 20-year-old woman from Tampa.
According to Florida Highway Patrol, a sedan, driven by, James Curtis Whatley, a 21-year-old man from Tampa, was traveling eastbound on SR-574 (MLK Blvd) at a high rate of speed approaching I-75. A pickup truck driven by a 43-year-old man from Lakeland was traveling westbound on SR574 (MLK Blvd) approaching I-75.
At the intersection, the pickup truck turned left to enter the southbound entrance ramp to I-75, entered the path of the sedan, and was subsequently struck by the speeding vehicle. The sedan rotated off the roadway,
struck a guardrail along the shoulder of the road, and came to final rest as the pickup truck came to a controlled stop.
The driver of the pickup truck sustained no injuries in the accident.
The female passenger traveling in the sedan suffered fatal injuries at the scene of the crash. FHP Troopers later arrested the driver of the sedan, James Curtis Whatley, for DUI Manslaughter and he has been booked in the Hillsborough County Jail.