A day that started with the gruesome death of a helpless, paraplegic Flagler Beach woman immobilized in her van as it burned on John Anderson Highway ended with a two-vehicle T-bone crash on Belle Terre Parkway that sent three Palm Coast residents to the hospital, one of them in critical condition.
The wreck on Belle Terre took place just before 9 p.m. at the intersection with Parkview Drive, shutting down Belle Terre’s northbound lanes at Pritchard Drive.
It involved a black Ford pick-up truck owned by Del Castillo Home and Lawn Service, the Palm Coast-based lawn and pest-control company, and a white BMW 335i. Two men were in the pick-up truck, one in the BMW.
Luis Javier Del Castillo II, 44, was at the wheel of the pick-up truck, with Leonard Mendez, 31, as his passenger. Victor Eugene Taylor, 57, was driving the BMW.
According to a Florida Highway Patrol investigator at the scene, the BMW was traveling north on Belle Terre. The truck was traveling south, and turned to make a left onto Parview Drive, apparently violating the BMW’s right of way.
The BWM smashed into the truck, which ended up on its passenger-side flank near a utility pole at the northeast corner of Belle Terre and Parkview. The BMW swerved into the grassy shoulder of Parkview, making a wide arc around a small copse of palm trees–which, fortunately for the driver, it almost entirely missed–before ending up facing south, perpendicular to Parkview, about 20 yards east of Belle Terre. Taylor, the driver of the BMW, was transported by ground to Florida Hospital Flagler, where patients with generally less serious injuries are taken.
One of the two men in the pick-up truck had to be flown out as a trauma patient to Halifax hospital in Daytona Beach, after an emergency helicopter landed on Belle Terre. The other man was transported by ambulance to Halifax. In all, Flagler County Fire Rescue sent three rescue units to the scene. The Palm Coast Fire Department and the sheriff’s office also responded, with the Palm Coast Fire Police regulating traffic.
A significant amount of equipment and miscellaneous items were scattered out of the bed of the pick-up truck, which had the reference to a Bible verse imprinted in big white letters on its frame (Matthew 19:26, “With man this is impossible, but with God all things are possible.”) Del Castillo Home and Lawn Service is owned by Javier del Castillo, who this morning posted on his Facebook page, in a supportive note to a local political candidate: “You only live once, but if you do it right…once is enough.”
Some 20 hours earlier, Lory Yazurlo, 53, well known to west Flagler for many years, died in her van in a still-unexplained fire as she was driving home with a friend. She was 700 yards from her mother’s house.
Rick G says
I guess that bible verse didn’t help all that much here.
Sw says
Slow down in a hurry to get where??*? this is PC theres no place to go but home
Anonymous says
My prayers are with the ones involved , hoping for speedy recovery, so,much to be alive, God was watching
Believer says
Apparently the bible verse did work…they’re still alive. Smh…praying for the families involved, including the doubters. 😍
Anonymous says
Slow down? But no one was speeding? More like check twice before crossing the road. God was definitely watching over.
Anonymous says
Hopefully FHP TCI can clearly see that BMW was going well over 45 and get a hefty ticket considering they were the cause of the accident because if they weren’t speeding they wouldn’t have collided
lenamarshall says
YES indeed slow down !
Mark says
It looks like they were doing the 45 MPH speed limit.
Anonymous says
So true!
Florida Gator says
Ah,the infamous Belle Terre Speedway where the speed limit is 45 but everybody does 60 plus. I guess the Sheriff is a lame duck so he doesn’t care anymore not that he ever did. Slow down people.
Anonymous says
Someone help me, I don’t see the word “Speeding” in here article. I read “The truck was traveling south, and turned to make a left onto Parview Drive, apparently violating the BMW’s right of way.” – FHP
woodchuck says
Cell phone issue?
chris says
was the BMWs lights on? or the truck for that matter
Sara Crew says
Look at those pictures, there is no way that was 45mph no way. Yes at that speed there is damage but not at that level, 3 where hurt and 1 is CRITICAL.
IMO says
Javier del Castillo is my lawn man.
He is one of the nicest men you would ever want to meet. A dedicated family man. An extremely hard working man.
My prayers go out for the Del Castillo family.
Harrison H. McDonald PE says
I frequently drive on Bell Terre and try to obey the speed limit. I get passed by cars driving 10-15mph over the limit. I am usually extra cautious at intersections. The pedestrian crossing at Bell Terre & East Hampton is a death trap because the city refuses to set the traffic light to protect from left turners. When the light shows safe to walk the left turn is not red, it just turns off and is blank.
JAMES SINCLAIR says
We second that statement. Javier is a good man and a dedicated family man. hard working .
Our prayers go out for the Del Castillo family.