Hillsborough Deputy Injured In Wrong-Way Driver Crash

TAMPA, FL -- A Hillsborough County Sheriff's Office deputy, along with two other drivers, was transported to the hospital following a wrong-way crash on Tuesday. July 10.

At 3:27 p.m., a caller reported seeing Reginald Gambrell, 4902 E. Idlewild Ave. in Tampa, driving a black 2003 Isuzu Axiom SUV the wrong way near 30th Street and East Fletcher Avenue.

Deputy John Duran, a school resource deputy at Martinez Middle School, was in the area, heard the alert over the radio and turned his marked vehicle around to search for the wrong-way driver. He spotted Gambrell driving on the sidewalk next to a car dealership near the intersection of East Fletcher Avenue and North Florida Avenue.

Gambrell was experiencing a medical emergency when he clipped the front of a gray 2016 Nissan Altima driven by Holly Neider of Streamdale Drive in Tampa. The crash caused Gambrell to swerve and hit the rear driver's side of Duran's Dodge Charger patrol vehicle, causing the side airbags to deploy.

All three drivers were taken to the hospital with non-life-threatening injuries and are currently in stable condition. John Neider Carmelo, a passenger in the Altima, was slightly injured but refused treatment at the scene.

Gambrell was ticketed for wrong-way driving. No criminal charges are pending.

Image via Hillsborough Sheriff

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