Trapped Driver Was Freed After About an Hour Following Palmetto Expressway Crash: Authorities

The expressway was closed for about an hour overnight so a helicopter could land and fly him to JMH

Rescuers worked for about an hour to remove a driver whose car became trapped beneath a box truck after an overnight Palmetto Expressway crash, authorities said.

About 60 percent of the car was stuck underneath the truck after they collided on the northbound Palmetto near NW 25th Street, said Lt. Rolando Exposito of Miami-Dade Fire Rescue.

Authorities were called at about 4:20 a.m. about the crash, and it took rescuers about an hour to remove the car’s driver using the jaws of life and other extrication tools, Exposito said.

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The driver was treated on the scene with an IV, before a helicopter landed on the expressway – which is also called State Road 826 – to fly him to Jackson Memorial Hospital for further care, Exposito said.

“Due to the nature of air rescue, we had to close both the south side and north side of Palmetto Expressway for about an hour, starting from the exchange all the way up to 36th Street,” he said.

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The box truck had to be lifted to get out the patient, and a door and extensive parts of the car also had to be removed.

“That’s why it took us so long to remove him out of the car,” Exposito said.

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