Update: Driver Critically Injured in Crash that Closed I-4

Update Oct. 23 2:03 p.m.: The driver of the Toyota pickup has been identified as Leslie Rivera, 33, of Plant City.

Earlier:

A 33-year-old Plant City man is in critical condition following a Thursday morning wreck on Interstate 4.

According to the Florida Highway Patrol, the accident happened around 6:45 a.m. as a 1994 Toyota pickup was heading westbound in the inside center lane. A Publix tractor trailer, driven by Karen Denise Fletcher, 51, of Kathleen was in the outside center lane at the time.

The pickup’s driver “lost control and began to rotate in a clockwise direction,” a highway patrol report stated. The pickup went underneath the Publix truck’s trailer, overturned and was dragged by the semi.

The pickup’s driver, who has not yet been identified, was taken to Tampa General Hospital in critical condition.

Fletcher was uninjured in the wreck.

The crash closed I-4 westbound for more than an hour Thursday morning.

Charges are pending.

Photo courtesy of the Florida Highway Patrol