Port St. Lucie - Saturday June 18, 2022: The 29 year old driver of a vehicle that sideswiped a tow truck and injured its driver has turned himself in. Jacob Andrews of Ft. Pierce was charged with hit and run involving serious bodily injury. He was jailed.
Port St. Lucie Police say Andrews came to the PSL Police Department Sunday. He told police he had "panicked after crashing" and "went home, where he hid the vehicle on the side of his house", according to a release posted on the PSL Police Department Facebook page.
The incident occurred around 12:30am in the 400 block of NE Airoso Blvd. The tow truck was parked in the right northbound lane and the driver was in the process of unloading a car when Andrew’s vehicle crashed into him and then side-swiped the tow truck. The vehicle immediately fled the scene and did not render aid to the victim. The 46-year-old tow truck operator was transported to a local hospital by the SLC Fire Department with serious but non life threatening injuries.
Florida law requires drivers to move over one lane, when you can safely do so, for stopped law enforcement, emergency, sanitation, and utility service vehicles, tow trucks or wreckers, and maintenance or construction vehicles.
-If you can’t move over, or when on a two-lane road, slow to a speed that is 20 mph less than the posted speed limit.
-Slow down to 5 mph when the posted speed limit is 20 mph or less.