A horrific accident took place in Fort Lauderdale, Florida this past week. During rush hour traffic on the SE 3rd Avenue bridge, a Tesla Model Y and what appears to be a Pontiac Vibe were crushed by part of a construction crane that plummeted to the ground just as they were crossing the downtown bridge.
The massive piece of debris first hit the Model Y’s hood, then lurched forward and struck the Pontiac, completely flattening both the hood of the Tesla and the passenger side of the Pontiac. The occupants of both vehicles were lucky to have survived the incident, but Jorge De La Torre, a 27-year-old construction worker at the site, was tragically killed.
Model Y owner Mark Cerezin seemed to be feeling relief and adrenaline immediately following the accident. “That’s my Tesla, it landed on me.” The owner told a crowd of people gathering around the wreckage. “I’m 100% fine. It came from up there, I saw it coming down, it took off the front of my car. And I’m completely fine.”
According to the Fort Lauderdale Fire Rescue, “A large section in the operation fell from an elevated position. (…) 1 person deceased and two patients transported to Broward Health.”
“It’s my understanding from the construction company that they were doing a process at the time called stepping the crane.” Fort Lauderdale Fire Rescue Chief Stephen Gollan explained at a press conference following the incident. “It was not the crane per se that actually failed. It was a platform that they had equipment staged on that had failed at the time of the incident and those items fell from the building down onto the bridge below.”
In a later interview with CBS News Miami, Cerezin provided more details. “I felt above my head, peripherally something was coming. I slammed on the brakes and that’s when it landed and took off the front of my car. Had I not slammed as hard as I had with my foot? I’m not here speaking to you.”
“All my airbags went off,” he continued. “And I just looked at myself and I couldn’t believe that I was still alive.” After the ordeal, he tended to a woman involved in the accident by using his shirt to apply pressure to her wounds.
All of the survivors were just grateful to have walked away from this tragedy. “From this day forward,” Said Cerezin. “I’m just happy to go home to my wife. I’m happy to go home to my family and to my friends.”
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