Photo for Headline Surfer® / SR 44 was finally reopened mid-day today after a crash involving a pick-up and a flatbed near Sugar Mill Drive, just east of the I-95 interchange as shown in the locator map, shown below resulting in a critically injured motorist in the smaller vehicle, which was totaled.NEW SMYRNA BEACH -- A 37-year-old motorist suffered serious injuries early in the 2600 block of State Road 44 this morning after crashing his Suzuki pick-up truck into the rear of a CMC Steel Fabricators flatbed tractor trailer, which resulted in a stretch of the roadway eastbound being shut down for more than six hours.
The injured motorist, Boran Jocic of New Smyrna Beach, was transported to Halifax Medical Center by ambulance under a trauma alert and remains in critical condition.
Here is a synopsis of the 5:18 a.m. accident just east of Sugar Mill Drive as described by police spokesman Master Sgt. Eugene Griffith to Headline Surfer®: Joric was traveling east on S.R. 44 when he crashed into the rear the flatbed that was slowing to make a U-turn.
The tractor trailer driver, Steve Fitzgerald, 58 of Green Cove Springs, was not injured. But the flatbed truck was disabled in the crash, resulting in the closure of eastbound S.R. 44 for more than six hours, while the load was transferred to another truck.
Anyone who witnessed or has information about the crash is asked to call New Smyrna Beach PD Investigator Mike Delahanty at 386-402-7736.