Man arrested after crash on Gandy Bridge kills teen girl, police say

TAMPA — The crash that closed the eastbound lanes of the Gandy Bridge for several hours Thursday morning left a teen girl dead and led to the arrest of a man on a DUI manslaughter charge, police said.

Sebastian Gutierrez, 28, of Riverview was heading east in a Honda Accord about 4:15 a.m. when he struck an Infiniti Q35 that had run out of gas and pulled onto the left shoulder, according to Tampa police.

A 15-year-old girl who was standing outside of the Infiniti on the passenger side was struck and killed. A 20-year-old man who’d been sitting in the back of the Infiniti had a minor injury to a leg pinned between the car and a guardrail. A 17-year-old girl sitting in the back seat also had minor injuries.

A 20-year-old man who’d been driving the Infiniti and was also outside of the car at the time of the crash told police he tried to warn his passengers when he saw what appeared to be a drunk driver swerving from side to side and heading in their direction.

Gutierrez remained at the scene and had no apparent injuries but did show signs of impairment and was arrested, according to police.

Police did not release the names of the Infiniti’s occupants. The Tampa Police Department does not release the names of crime victims due to its interpretation of Marsy’s Law, a voter-approved amendment to the state Constitution that was meant to protect crime victims but that deprives the public of information long available under Florida’s public records law.

Police closed the eastbound lanes of the bridge during the investigation, detouring traffic away on the Pinellas side. The bridge reopened about 9:30 a.m.