A Jacksonville man lost his life in the early hours of Monday morning after a violent single-vehicle crash on I-295 southbound escalated into something far worse. What began as a vehicle veering off the road quickly turned fatal when the driver, who was not wearing a seat belt, was thrown from the SUV and into the path of oncoming traffic. He was struck by at least two other vehicles and died at the scene.
Florida Highway Patrol responded to the crash just before 3 a.m. near the Wilson Boulevard exit. The sequence of events was nothing short of chaotic: the SUV drifted off the highway, cut across the right shoulder, barreled through a grassy area, hit several trees, and then spun back toward the highway before coming to rest on top of a guardrail. That is a lot of ground covered in what was likely a matter of seconds.
The victim has not yet been publicly identified. The drivers of the other vehicles involved stayed at the scene and are cooperating with investigators, which authorities noted in their report. Troopers are still working to determine what caused the SUV to leave the road in the first place, citing “undetermined reasons” at this stage of the investigation…