The head brewer at St. Petersburg’s popular 3 Daughters Brewing was killed in a crash on the Sunshine Skyway bridge Thursday morning, company owner Mike Harting confirmed to the Tampa Bay Times.
The Florida Highway Patrol hasn’t named the 50-year-old motorcyclist who sustained fatal injuries in the crash, which took place at about 9:15 a.m. in the northbound lanes. However, Harting said it was Ty Weaver.
“Ty was an exceptional person whose talent, dedication and love for the art of brewing were unmatched,” Harting wrote in a statement sent to the Times. “He will be dearly missed by his friends and the community surrounding 3 Daughters. We respectfully ask for privacy for his family during this time of grief.”
According to troopers, the collision happened after the driver of an SUV slowed for traffic on the bridge and was hit from behind by the motorcyclist, who “separated from the motorcycle” and was “overrun” by a tractor-trailer, the Highway Patrol reported in a news release.
Neither the driver of the SUV, a 55-year-old Wimauma woman, nor the driver of the tractor-trailer, a 57-year-old man from Columbus, Fla., were injured in the crash, troopers said.
The Highway Patrol did not release their names, either.