South Florida Personal Injury Lawyers

Tiger Woods is expected to talk to authorities about his SUV crash today, more than two days after the accident occurred.

State troopers want answers about the incident that led Woods’ wife to use a golf club to smash out a rear window in an apparent effort to free him after the crash. A police report says Woods ran over a fire hydrant with his Cadillac Escalade, then smashed into a tree at 2:25 a.m. Friday.

Woods’ public silence has fueled speculation about why he left his home at that hour, where he was going and whether an argument
preceded the crash.

A Florida Highway Patrol official says investigations into minor collisions don’t normally drag on for days, but it can happen.

Officials could also release 911 tapes from the accident as soon
as today.

Hallandale Beach Fire Rescue is investigating a fuel tank explosion that happened at the U-Gas station at 990 West Hallandale Beach Boulevard Sunday afternoon.

Employees in nearby businesses said they smelled putrid fumes moments before the incident.

“We just heard a lot of chaos,” said a worker at a nearby Metro PCS store.

“Units arrived six minutes later to find that there had in fact been an explosion,” said Division Chief Richard Stover with Hallandale Beach Fire Rescue.

Four men were working underground. Two were inside a fuel tank.

“The tanks were being upgraded to meet EPA standards,” Stover said.

Crews were were re-lining the insides to prevent leaking.

But something went wrong. Something sparked. Firefighters said it was a flash fire that scorched the two workers inside.

They were taken to Memorial Regional Hospital in Hollywood with second and third-degree burns on 70 percent of their bodies.

For almost three hours, eastbound Hallandale Beach Blvd. was shut down completely as crews continued to work.

“The reason we shut down the area was to keep our units back, at a distance, and at the same time, keep citizens at a distance to make sure there was no secondary incident,” Stover said.

The other two victims were taken to the hospital as well and were treated for minor injuries.

The cause of the explosion was not immediately known.

There was a scare in the air Sunday for a pilot who ended up crashing his plane into the waters off Northern Broward County.

The small plane plunged into the waters off Hillsboro Beach early Sunday.

The pilot was rescued and taken to North Broward General Medical Center to be checked out.

He is said to be in good condition.

The cause of the crash is under investigation.

A 5-year-old Coral Springs girl died Saturday on Florida’s Turnpike in Indian River County, after the driver of the car in which she was traveling lost control and the vehicle flipped over.

Alejandra Caicedo was pronounced dead at the scene of the 5: 13 p.m. accident, according to the Florida Highway Patrol.

Officers said three other people in the 2000 Plymouth van, including driver Javier Caicedo, 47, were injured and taken to the hospital by helicopter.

Also injured were Maria Triano, 44, and Nicolas Caicedo, 8.

FHP officers said all four occupants of the van were wearing seatbelts, but the two who were sitting in the back seat were ejected.

The scene of the crash is 14 miles south of Yeehaw Junction, in the southbound turnpike lanes. Traffic was diverted from the turnpike at State Route 60 for four hours during the investigation.

A car struck and killed a pedestrian in Boynton Beach yesterday evening.

The pedestrian crossed in front of the car traveling north on South Seacrest Boulevard in the 600 block about 6:39 p.m. Thursday, Boynton Beach police report.

Investigators have not released the name of the pedestrian. It is unclear whether the driver stopped.

A Miami woman convicted of killing two motorcyclists on Interstate 95 in Indian River County has been sentenced to 18 1/2 years in prison.

A judge sentenced 26-year-old Dominique Brice on Wednesday.

A jury found Brice guilty last month of vehicular manslaughter.

Authorities say Brice was speeding and weaving through traffic
in February 2008 when she hit Fritz Doucet and Raul Ortiz.

They were recently reunited high school friends going to Bike Week in Daytona Beach.

Brice’s brother and two small children were in the car.

Another driver on the interstate, who testified at the trial, had actually called 911 to report an erratic driver just moments before the crash.

Brice said she was just changing lanes with another car forced
her out of control.

Volusia County sheriff’s officials said they are shocked and saddened by the death of a deputy who was killed earlier this week when his 10-year-old son accidentally put a vehicle in reverse and struck him.

Deputy Juan Santiago-Colon, 47, had worked for the Sheriff’s Office for about 10 years.

“He was extremely popular, very well liked,” sheriff’s spokesman Gary Davidson said Friday morning. “No one had bad words to say about him.”

Davidson said Santiago-Colon was on a hunting trip in West Virginia with his children.

On Tuesday, Santiago-Colon asked one of sons to drive his vehicle forward. But instead, the child inadvertently put the vehicle in reverse and struck Santiago-Colon.

Santiago-Colon, who served in the U.S, Navy, worked as a patrol deputy for a number of years, and most recently worked at the courthouse in DeLand.

“He was devoted to his job, he was devoted to his children and his mother,” Davidson said. “He was somebody who wouldn’t hesitate to help someone in need.”

Santiago-Colon has three sons: Hunter and Cruz Santiago, who are twins, and Seth Santiago.

He was extremely devoted to his children and catered to their every need, said his sister, Marilyn Santiago.

“He was mother and father. He took full responsibility for the children,” she said. “He lived only for his children.”

Santiago-Colon enjoyed hunting, camping and fishing and exercised regularly.

Santiago said her brother had a great sense of humor, even in tough times. And he always had a smile.

Santiago-Colon is also survived by his mother Aida Colon, who lives in Volusia County; brother Martin Santiago of El Paso, Texas; and numerous aunts, uncles, nieces, nephews and cousins.

Baldauff Family Funeral Home and Crematory in Orange City is handling arrangements. Visitation will be held 5 to 7 p.m. Monday, and the funeral service will begin at 7 p.m. A funeral home representative said a memorial fund has been established

A 73-year-old Louisiana woman was killed Tuesday afternoon on U.S. Highway 331 after swerving to avoid an animal.

Mary D. Siler of Pearl River, La., was driving north on U.S. 331 at 1:15 p.m. when she swerved to avoid an animal in the road and lost control of her 1999 four-door Mercury, according to a Florida Highway Patrol report.

The front of Siler’s car struck a sign, collided with a parked 1993 Chevy pickup and then ran into Buy Gones Antiques at 5315 U.S. Highway 331.

The business sustained extensive damage, according to Diane Wospil, who has owned it for 12 years.

“A lot,” she said, when asked to quantify the damage to the building and its contents. “I am open for business, but I’m limited to one side (of that building) and my other buildings.”

Wospil said she first heard about the accident when a friend called her cell phone and asked if she was all right. The business is not open on Tuesdays. Her friend explained that a car had driven into her business.

Homicide investigators from the Florida Highway Patrol were at her business early Wednesday morning.

Siler’s passenger, Cheryl A. Siler, 43, of Destin had only minor injuries. Both women were wearing seatbelts, the report said.

The older Siler was transported to Sacred Heart Hospital in Pensacola where she died, the report said.