Four-Vehicle, Two-Truck Crash on U.S. 1 Near Church on the Rock Sends 6 to Hospital

A multi-vehicle crash involving a pick-up truck and a trailer, a U-Haul truck and two SUVs on U.S. 1 near Church on the Rock in Bunnell sent six people to Florida Hospital Flagler early Monday afternoon.

None of the injuries were considered to be life-threatening immediately after the crash, which remains under investigation.

The crash took place just after 1 p.m. It involved two vehicles traveling south and two traveling north, the four colliding one way or another along the segment of U.S. 1 with the Atlantis center on the west side and the church on the east.

Based on information authorities collected at the scene based on eyewitness accounts, a burgundy Chevy Equinox had been driving south then preparing to make a U-turn at the divider in front of Atlantis. The Equinox turned, but the rear part of the vehicle allegedly still was in the left-most southbound lane, impeding traffic.

Anton Jones, 37, was at the wheel of a black Chevy Silverado with Skyway Tree Service, hauling a trailer filled with ladders, equipment and two large trunks of palm trees, among other cargo. He was driving south in the left lane, rapidly approaching the rear of the burgundy Equinox. “He hit the brakes to avoid hitting the red car that was basically in the middle of traffic,” an investigator at the scene said.

The Silverado cut left through the grassy median and ended up into the ongoing northbound lane, where it t-boned a northbound U-Haul, sending the U-Haul spinning five or six times, losing a wheel in the ditch and ending up barely upright, facing south and leaning well into the ditch. Rain may have played a role in the wreck. 

The passenger in the U-Haul said the Silverado was “coming in too hot” when it attempted to avoid the red car, just before t-boning the U-Haul truck.

The Silverado’s trailer smashed into the Chevy Equinox’s front end, while the Silverado and the trailer ended up in a V across most of the northbound lanes of U.S. 1. As soon as the Silverado came to a stop, a silver Mercedes SUV going north with four occupants smashed into it. All four were hospitalized. 

Jones was with passenger Jermaine Gartner, 31, who was one of the people sent to Florida Hospital Flagler. Jones himself had cuts and bruises, including cuts on the face and arm, but said he did not want to be hospitalized. He spoke of an additional red car that had been involved in the wreck but drove off, apparently untouched.

“I was doing everything in my power to keep us from rolling into the ditch,” Craig Wiebe, the 37-year-old driver of the U-Haul, said. “We were headed back to go do a second trip, going from here into the country.” He spoke as the adrenaline was coursing through him, he said. “I never saw the red car, I just saw him coming through the grass,” he said of Jones’s Silverado.

One thing was going through his mind in those instants as the crash unfolded, Wiebe said: “Let’s not roll, pretty much. I didn’t want to roll over and be on the side or the top of that thing, not knowing where the heck I was. It was almost like that TV commercial where you see they’re talking about I-10 and the car comes across–just like that, boom, came across out of nowhere.” Neither Wiebe nor his passenger were hurt.

Flagler County Fire Rescue sent several rescue units. The Palm Coast Fire Department also responded, as did the Palm Coast Fire Police, which reduced northbound U.S. 1 to one lane, curving around the wreck. Traffic was not significantly backed up. The Sheriff’s Office and Bunnell Police Department responded. Bunnell police are investigating.