Retired FL Firefighter Killed Helping Driver in Crash

A retired Florida firefighter was killed while trying to help a driver following an interstate crash early Sunday.

The initial accident happened at around 4:30 a.m. when a 32-year-old driver who authorities suspected had been driving under the influence stopped his truck in the far left lane of southbound Interstate 75 near the U.S. 301 exit in Hillsborough County in the Tampa area, WTSP-TV reports. That's when a 31-year-old woman hit the parked truck.

After the accident, Wesley Weysham Jr., a former Sarasota County firefighter and paramedic, pulled the driver from his truck and started to give him medical care, according to WTSP. But a 24-year-old driver who hadn't seen the first accident crashed his car into the truck, which fatally hit Weysham.

The interstate's southbound lanes were shut down for hours as firefighters extinguished the blaze caused by the second crash, as well as cleaned up the scene. The Florida Highway Patrol told WTSP that charges are pending in the accident.

Weysham, 59, retired from Sarasota County Fire Rescue in 2017.