Riverview Man Killed in Wrong-Way Crash

RUSKIN, FL — A 32-year-old Riverview man is dead and a Ruskin woman critically injured following a Thursday night crash on U.S. 41.

According to the Florida Highway Patrol, Jean Ann Petraits, 56, was heading south in the northbound lanes of U.S. 41 around 8 p.m. Thursday. As she moved north of Bayshore Road, her vehicle drove into the path of an oncoming Honda Odyssey, driven by Rodney Keith Bell. The two vehicles, a highway patrol report said, collided nearly head-on.

Bell died at the scene.

Petraits was taken to Tampa General Hospital with critical injuries. Troopers say she was impaired at the time of the accident, the report noted.

Charges are pending.

Photo courtesy of the Florida Highway Patrol