JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – A witness is speaking out about the frightening encounter she almost had on Friday night when a wrong-way driver caused a crash on I-95, carjacked a FedEx truck and jumped in the St. Johns River after crashing the vehicle.
Elizabeth Collier was still shaken up and emotional about how close she came to being hit by the 25-year-old wrong-way driver and prays for the FedEx driver she said the woman attacked before stealing the truck.
She said she was one of the people who stood with others in the middle of the I-95 to make sure the FedEx driver was okay, and she didn’t understand why no one was talking about the driver’s injuries.
“I am approaching her. She is getting into the FedEx truck, sitting on top of the FedEx truck driver screaming ‘go, go, go,’” Collier said. “She stepped her foot on the gas and the FedEx truck was going, and I can see in the rearview her elbowing the FedEx driver, and then the next thing I know, I hear a ca-thud. I mean a big ca-thud.”
Collier said the wrong-way driver pushed the FedEx worker out of the truck and drove down I-95 towards Downtown.
“She did not have time in any way shape or form to embrace the impact of the fall. She landed head first,” Collier said.
Although the Florida Highway Patrol report did not specify any injuries, the woman’s attorney mentioned at least one person being hurt as a result of the incident during her first court appearance. Collier recalls seeing the FedEx driver on the ground suffering from serious injuries.
According to Collier, she said she saw the FedEx driver with “a large contusion on her right eyebrow, her left arm was completely stiff and she had a lot of blood coming out of the right side of her head.”
Collier said she called the FedEx driver’s mother to tell her she was in a “very unfortunate accident.”
“I explained to her the range rover driver highjacked the truck and then threw her daughter out onto the middle of I-95. It still brings tears to my eyes. I don’t even want a mother to have to go through something like that,” Collier said.
Collier is calling for justice for the FedEx driver after the chaos that ensued on Friday.
“I helped that young woman. Justice needs to be brought to the Range Rover driver that way the FedEx driver can get what she needs, and the family can get what they need, which is justice for the FedEx driver,” Collier said.
Collier also said she keeps in contact with the family. The 25-year-old remains in jail for aggravated battery and carjacking charges. Her next court date is Sept. 12.