ST. LUCIE COUNTY — An early morning fuel spill continues to create minor problems for southbound motorists on Interstate 95 north of Midway Road, a St. Lucie County Sheriff’s Office official said at 8 a.m.

The spill affects I-95’s southbound off ramp and the Glades Cutoff Road east of I-95.

The highway is open but St. Lucie County Sheriff’s deputies are directing traffic. The state Department of Transportation put out safety cones and county workers spread sand.

No accidents have been reported.

At 4:59 a.m. Friday a south-bound Wal-mart tractor trailer was going onto the exit ramp when it struck a metal object, creating a hole in a fuel tank. The truck driver discovered the leak when entering the Wal-mart distribution center. That is where most of the fuel spilled, officials said.

But a trail of fuel went onto more than a mile of highway.

The St. Lucie County Fire District’s HazMat Team is on the scene and federal authorities have been notified.

Posted August 13, 2010 at 6:30 a.m., updated August 13, 2010 at 8:38 a.m.

By Keona Gardner, Will Greenlee

PORT ST. LUCIE — The first stop for a man accused of fleeing a Wednesday crash that critically injured a 90-year-old man was Golden Corral buffet, according to a Port St. Lucie Police Department news release issued Thursday.

Wildens Dorlean, 25, told officers he spent about $11 and went for “two or three” servings at the all-you-can eat buffet.

Later, he called his girlfriend, who took him to a barber shop to get his hair cut, then went to a cell phone store to look at phones before turning himself in at 4 p.m. — more than four hours after the crash — at the St. Lucie County Sheriff’s Office.

Wildens Dorlean

Dorlean, of the 700 block of Northwest Cabot Street in Port St. Lucie, is charged with felony leaving the scene of an accident with serious bodily injury in the 11:45 a.m. Wednesday crash in which Edmond Galloway, 90, was critically injured.

The crash happened as Galloway drove his Chevrolet west on Southeast Port St. Lucie Boulevard and made a left turn onto Southeast Gowing Drive, officer J. Byrne said Wednesday.

Galloway turned in front of Dorlean’s Ford Expedition that was traveling east on Southeast Port St. Lucie Boulevard.

On Thursday, Galloway remained in critical condition at Lawnwood Regional Medical Center & Heart Institute in Fort Pierce, a spokeswoman said. A woman, Dorlean’s passenger, was taken to St. Lucie Medical Center with minor injuries, the release states.

Dorlean, whom police said did not appear to have caused the crash, would not have been charged if he had remained at the scene, the release said. He gave police conflicting statements on why he left, at one point telling police he “hit his head and he thought if he stayed he would die” but later saying he left because he was scared, the release states.

Also, Dorlean initially told authorities he ran “because his wife did not make the insurance payment,” and he didn’t think his license was valid.

Dorlean told police he walked along side streets until he got to Golden Corral, where he used a cashier’s phone to call his girlfriend to get him and ate lunch while waiting. While out with his girlfriend, Dorlean told police, his aunt called and said police were looking for him. He drove to the Sheriff’s Office to surrender.

A Honda crashed into a Port St. Lucie home in the 1500 block of Southeast Crowberry Drive. (Photo provided by Port St. Lucie Police)

PORT ST. LUCIE — A 24-year-old man who said he had seven beers and four shots was arrested Wednesday morning after police say he crashed a Honda into a house on Southeast Crowberry Drive, records show.

Julius Burnett Fletcher, of the 800 block of Southwest College Park Road in Port St. Lucie, faces at least a DUI charge following the 5:26 a.m. crash in the 1500 block of Southeast Crowberry Drive.

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HOBE SOUND - Numerous vehicles were involved in more than two dozen minor-to-moderate crashes late Friday afternoon and early evening on northbound Interstate 95 between Palm Beach County line and Bridge Road in Hobe Sound, according to the Florida Highway Patrol.

The crashes started about 5:30 p.m. when heavy rainfall started, authorities said.

Officials estimate a total of 28 crashes, mostly involving two or more vehicles.

None of the crashes were fatalities but several people were taken to local hospitals for treatment of non-life-threatening injuries, the release states.

Troopers closed I-95’s northbound lanes at the Indiantown Road exit in Palm Beach County to prevent further crashes from occurring. The road reopened at 8:30 p.m.

STUART — The deaths of three Martin County teenagers one year ago Wednesday in an alcohol-related car crash don’t appear to have put a damper on underage drinking — or many adults’ lackadaisical attitude toward it.

In fact, records obtained from the State Attorney’s Office show more teenagers were arrested in Martin County for alcohol-related offenses in the months after the wreck than in the months leading up to the Aug. 4 incident in which Nicholas Coady and Christopher Briglio, both 18, and Connor Graver, 16, all of Stuart, were killed when the Jeep Cherokee Coady was driving slammed into a front-end loader at a construction site on Cove Road.

Coady had a blood-alcohol level of 0.251 percent, more than three times the legal limit for an adult. Blood-alcohol tests indicated Briglio and Graver also were impaired at the time of the crash, and troopers found beer cans in the Jeep.
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By Keona Gardner

A 6-year old boy died Tuesday evening after a sport utility vehicle he was traveling in rolled over on Interstate 95, about three miles south of the Sebastian/Fellsmere exit.

About 6:50 p.m., a small SUV traveling north on I-95 veered off the road into the median at mile marker 153, said Lt. Tim Frith, Florida Highway Patrol spokesman. (more…)

STUART — A man in a light blue sedan reportedly hit a 9-year-old boy Thursday before driving off, according to a Florida Highway Patrol spokesman and a release.

Jelen Johnson, of Stuart, was taken to St. Mary’s Medical Center in West Palm Beach in serious condition following the 5:45 p.m. crash on Southeast Dell Street, a release states.

A witness reportedly heard the light blue sedan driver and another person talking loud or in a dispute as the driver backed along Southeast Dell Street, Lt. Tim Frith, FHP spokesman, said Friday. The victim and other kids were thought to be in the road at the time, he said.

The light blue sedan, which was traveling east, hit Johnson and the driver, a man, then turned the wheel. He then drove off.

By Will Greenlee

Teenager Ryan Rust graduated from Port St. Lucie’s Treasure Coast High School on June 3.

Next week, he’ll start of his first NASCAR race, a truck series sprint at the O’Reilly Raceway Park in Indianapolis, live on cable’s Speed channel. The race is a part of the Brickyard 400 weekend.

Future Jimmy Johson?

Click here for more on Rust!

By Will Greenlee

One person is being flown to a trauma center following a Wednesday morning crash on Interstate 95 that happened in the same general area as a crash about 80 minutes earlier, a St. Lucie County Fire District spokeswoman said.

The most recent crash happened shortly before 8 a.m. along southbound I-95 just south of Indrio Road, Fire District spokeswoman Catherine Chaney said. Four people were injured in the crash, and one of those was being flown to a trauma center.

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Cove Road crash

By Tyler Treadway

STUART — Information released Tuesday by the State Attorney’s Office paints a tragic and dramatic picture of events leading up to the Aug. 4 crash on Cove Road in which three teenage boys were killed.

The Florida Highway Patrol reports, interviews with witnesses and photos provide evidence that Nicholas Coady and Christopher Briglio, both 18, and Connor Graver, 16, had been drinking before they arrived at a party at the Palm City home of assistant South Fork High School baseball coach David Wayne “Bubba” Harper, 28, and Craig D. Frick, 24. (more…)