Eddie Collins, 62, of Bunnell, Dies of Injuries From U.S. 1 Pick-Up Crash

Eddie Collins, the 62-year-old Bunnell man critically injured in a crash on U.S. 1 on Monday (Dec. 10), died Thursday evening at Halifax hospital in Daytona Beach. Collins was pronounced dead at 6:05 p.m.

Collins was a passenger in a Ford Ranger pick-up driven by Gregory Williams, 43, of Palatka, as they drove home from work, when just past the White Eagle Lounge, Williams lost control of the pick-up, swerved onto the media, overcorrected, and sent the vehicle rolling over. He sustained non-life-threatening injuries. Collins was transported from the scene in critical condition and was given little chance of survival: a traffic homicide investigation was conducted within an hour of the crash.

Williams told investigators that he thought he had been run off the road. Investigators have not found evidence to that effect. There are pending charges against Williams, but nothing criminal. He is likely to face a traffic citation only.

The previous story is below.

Roll-Over on U.S. 1, Head-On Crash on SR100 by Hospital Leave 4 Injured, One Critically

Dec. 10–Two separate vehicle crashes took place almost simultaneously early this afternoon–a head-on crash on State Road 100 near the hospital and a roll-over U.S. 1 near the White Eagle Lounge, resulting in four injuries, one of them critical.

The first crash took place at 1:45 p.m. on U.S. 1. A man was critically hurt and another injured in a single-vehicle roll-over about a quarter mile north of the Old Dixie Highway intersection at the White Eagle.

The crash involved a Ford Ranger Edge pulling a trailer. Gregory Williams, 43, of Palatka, was at the wheel of the Ford with passenger Eddie Collins, 62, of Bunnell. They were returning from a construction site, traveling north when, based on skid marks and grooves in the road and the median, the truck for unknown reasons briefly drifted into the center median of the four-lane highway, Williams overcorrected, sending the truck sharply back across the highway. It overturned before coming to rest facing south, well past the east shoulder of the road.

Collins was critically hurt. Williams was seriously hurt, but with n on-life-threatening injuries.

One of the men in the truck had to be extricated by Flagler County Fire Rescue and Palm Coast Fire Department paramedics. Air One, the emergency helicopter, was placed on stand-by then cancelled, as both patients were transported by ground to Halifax hospital in Daytona Beach. Collins had a reported Glasgow Coma Score of 3, the lowest (or worst) on the scale, reflecting his critical condition. (An earlier version of this story incorrectly reported that one of the patients had been taken to Florida Hospital Flagler: that had been earlier information from the 911 dispatch center, later amended.)

The Flagler County Sheriff’s Office responded and reduced northbound traffic to one lane, and a Florida Highway Patrol traffic homicide investigator later arrived and started his investigation. Williams’s wife drove up to the scene and spoke with law enforcement before being directed down to Halifax. The investigation stretched just past 4 p.m.

Twelve minutes later–at 1:57 p.m.–another crash took place on State Road 100 near the intersection with Memorial Medical Parkway, the road that leads to Florida Hospital Flagler.

According to the sheriff’s office’s 911 notes on the incident, one vehicle, a white Jeep, was pulling out of Memorial Medical Parkway and making a right (westbound) turn onto State Road 100. But instead of making the sharp turn onto the correct lanes, the driver of the Jeep crossed into the eastbound lanes instead, and crashed head-on with another vehicle, a gray Honda minivan with a driver and a passenger.

Both the minivan patients had non-life-threatening injuries to the legs, and were taken to Florida Hospital Flagler. Air One was on stand-by for that crash as well, but was cancelled. Both vehicles were smoking when first responders, including the Palm Coast Fire Police, arrived at the scene. Roger’s Towing of Bunnell was called into the scene to remove the vehicles.