{"id":33921,"date":"2025-11-05T05:52:13","date_gmt":"2025-11-05T05:52:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/33921\/"},"modified":"2025-11-05T05:52:13","modified_gmt":"2025-11-05T05:52:13","slug":"father-opens-up-after-son-killed-in-wrong-way-florida-turnpike-crash-he-loved-his-family","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/33921\/","title":{"rendered":"Father opens up after son killed in wrong-way Florida Turnpike crash: “He loved his family”"},"content":{"rendered":"

A heartbroken father is opening up for the first time after losing his son to a wrong-way crash on the Florida Turnpike<\/a>. <\/p>\n

Jose Gustavo Palma spoke just moments after an investigator from the Florida Highway Patrol visited his home to discuss the accident and the death of his 23-year-old son, Gustavo Adolfo Palma Romero.<\/p>\n

“My son was a big guy, a great guy. He was always thinking of his family and his mother after they came here from Venezuela. He was taking care of them,” Palma said.<\/p>\n

Son remembered for work ethic<\/p>\n

Palma said his son had to be home on Sunday to play in a soccer game. He worked two jobs \u2014 one as a forklift operator and another at a bakery \u2014 and had an incredible work ethic. He came to the United States from Venezuela five years ago.<\/p>\n

“He’s my oldest son,” Palma said. “He was the support of the family and everything. He had a lot of friends, and everyone trusted him. He was a nice guy. He did not take drugs and alcohol. He loved his family.”<\/p>\n

Crash happened early Sunday morning<\/p>\n

Palma said his son was driving home to Doral in a silver Toyota Camry around 4 a.m. Sunday, when his car was hit by a blue Honda traveling the wrong way near Bird Road, according to the Florida Highway Patrol.<\/p>\n

Video posted on social media shows a third vehicle\u2014a white Toyota\u2014crashing into the wreckage, injuring two people inside. Palma Romero and the driver of the blue Honda died at the scene.<\/p>\n

Family seeks answers, mourns loss<\/p>\n

“This is crazy, just crazy. I don’t know how this happened. Why my son? Why my son? That is it. I don’t know what else today. I just don’t know how this happened, and I just hope this doesn’t happen to any other person,” Palma said.<\/p>\n

He said investigators told him it was still unclear how the crash occurred. He wants to know where the wrong-way driver was coming from and headed to.<\/p>\n

“I hope you never have to feel what I am feeling. It is a bad feeling. Like someone has taken something out of your body and your heart, and it feels like they have taken a piece of you,” he said.<\/p>\n

Funeral services planned in Opa-Locka<\/p>\n

Palma and his family have launched a fundraising campaign to help cover burial expenses.<\/p>\n

He said services, including a viewing, will be held Sunday from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. at Valles Funeral Home in Opa-Locka.<\/p>\n

\n More from CBS News\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A heartbroken father is opening up for the first time after losing his son to a wrong-way crash…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":33922,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[28,30,29,123,807],"class_list":["post-33921","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-florida","tag-florida","tag-florida-headlines","tag-florida-news","tag-miami","tag-south-florida"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/33921","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=33921"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/33921\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/33922"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=33921"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=33921"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=33921"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}