Advertisement

Two injured in crash on Gulf-to-Bay Boulevard in Clearwater

 
A Clearwater firefighter looks at the damage sustained by a 1997 Saturn sedan that was involved in an accident Tuesday morning at the intersection of Gulf-to-Bay Boulevard and Hercules Avenue.
A Clearwater firefighter looks at the damage sustained by a 1997 Saturn sedan that was involved in an accident Tuesday morning at the intersection of Gulf-to-Bay Boulevard and Hercules Avenue.
Published Sept. 4, 2013

CLEARWATER — Lanes of Gulf-to-Bay Boulevard were shut shortly after 8:30 a.m. Tuesday by an accident in the intersection at Hercules Avenue.

A 1997 white Saturn being driven west on Gulf-to-Bay Boulevard turned south onto Hercules Avenue and into the path of a 1999 grey Chevy Lumina that was eastbound on Gulf-to-Bay, according to city public safety spokesman Rob Shaw.

The two occupants of the Lumina refused medical treatment.

The driver of the Saturn, Lidia M. Garcia, 60, of Clearwater, and her passenger, Edwardo Garcia Caraballo, 66, also of Clearwater, both sustained life-threatening injuries and were flown by Bayflight to Bayfront Health St. Petersburg.

Susan Romano, the driver of the Lumina, said she was on her way to work when the car turned into her path and she crashed into the passenger side of the Saturn.

Romano said her father was killed in 2000 in New Jersey when he stepped out of his car following a fender-bender and another driver then T-boned his car, pushing it into him and crushing him.

"I tried to avoid them," Romano said of Tuesday's accident. "It is so upsetting."

On Tuesday afternoon, Garcia was in serious condition and Caraballo was in critical condition.

Traffic was rerouted for two and a half hours.