Advertisement

Patrol: Man standing near damaged Jeep on I-75 struck and killed

 
Published Jan. 16, 2012

TAMPA — After colliding with a disabled vehicle on Interstate 75, a driver standing next to his damaged Jeep was struck and killed early Sunday morning.

The Florida Highway Patrol identified the man as 32-year-old Arimus Antwain Marshall Dixon of Tampa.

Troopers said that about 4:15 a.m., Dixon's 2005 Jeep Wrangler drifted onto the right shoulder of northbound I-75, south of the Fowler Avenue exit.

The Jeep sideswiped a disabled vehicle on the shoulder, overturned and slid into the highway's center lane.

Dixon got out of the Jeep and was standing next to it when a car approached in the center lane. The 1996 Acura Integra, driven by 34-year-old Chrissy L. Rodriguez of Tampa, swerved to avoid a crash but hit the Jeep and Dixon, troopers said.

Dixon died on the scene.

Rodriguez was taken to Florida Hospital with minor injuries, the patrol said. Her passenger, Alvin T. Travis, 29, of Tampa, was uninjured.

The driver of the disabled vehicle, 21-year-old Robert C. Norman of Dade City, was also uninjured, troopers said.

Patrol spokesman Steve Gaskins said alcohol or excessive speed do not appear to be factors in the crash. The drivers and passenger in the moving vehicles were wearing seat belts, he said. An investigation was ongoing.