A driver was airlifted to a hospital Sunday morning after a rollover crash on the Palmetto Expressway, near Miami Lakes Drive in Miami Lakes, according to witnesses and emergency responders.
One witness said the vehicle sped past him moments before the crash, traveling so fast that it caused his own car to shake.
“I was going like 70 mph, and he passed fast,” the witness said. “My car moved from left to right.”
The vehicle overturned near Northwest 154th Street shortly before 7 a.m.
After the crash, witnesses said the vehicle began filling with smoke and caught fire. Several bystanders rushed to help the driver before firefighters arrived.
“The car started catching fire, and luckily I had a shovel in my car,” one witness said. “We opened it because it was full of smoke.”
Another witness described the moments after the crash.
“We just turned off the fire because it was catching on fire and the driver was unresponsive,” the witness said.
Firefighters and paramedics soon arrived and used the Jaws of Life to gain access to the vehicle and reach the driver. NBC6 cameras captured crews placing the driver on a stretcher before the person was taken by helicopter to a nearby hospital.
The driver’s condition has not been released.
Parts of the Palmetto Expressway were temporarily shut down as crews responded to the scene and cleared the wreckage. All lanes later reopened.
The Florida Highway Patrol is leading the investigation. Authorities have not said what caused the crash, and the circumstances leading up to the rollover remain under investigation.