Authorities have identified both the 64-year-old driver and the Florida Highway Patrol trooper who are in the hospital with serious injuries after a three-car crash in suburban West Palm Beach this morning.
A preliminary crash report indicates that Miriam G. Acosta of West Palm Beach was headed west on Summit Boulevard and attempted to turn south on Davis Road when she crossed into the path of Trooper Tommy Rodriguez, 33, of Lake Worth, who was eastbound in his marked cruiser.
Acosta's Hyundai slammed into the front of the trooper's car and then spun, hitting a third car that was also westbound on Summit.
Palm Beach County Fire Rescue crews were dispatched to the crash at intersection of Davis Road and Summit Boulevard shortly after 6:35 a.m.
Both Acosta and Rodriguez were flown to Delray Medical Center, said Capt. Don DeLucia, spokesman for fire rescue. Sgt. K.A. Hardley, of FHP, said the trooper broke his left fibula.
Hardley said both the Elantra driver and the trooper had the green light.
This morning, witnesses at the scene said Acosta made the turn into Davis Road too slowly.
The crash spun the Elantra into another vehicle, a Hyundai Sonata, which received minor damage to the left rear door. The trooper's cruiser hit a curb at the southeast corner of the intersection and hit a light pole guide wire, investigators reported in a morning press release.
Hardley said the injured trooper rushed to check on Acosta but laid back down on the grass to wait for help after learning that she was okay.
The driver of the Sonata, 41-year-old Angela Rivera, said she was frozen as the accident unfolded before her eyes.
"It was terrible," Rivera said. "I was hysterical when I called 911."
Rivera, of suburban West Palm Beach, said she was on her way back home from dropping off her mother at her job at the airport, when she pulled up behind the red Elantra in the turn lane.
Hardley said both the Elantra and the cruiser were totaled.
Staff photographer Lannis Waters contributed to this report.