Port St. Joe man dies in accident near Wewahitchka
Wewahitchka woman transported to hospital with serious injuries
UPDATE 9:00 P.M. CST — State Road 71 has been reopened to traffic.
ORIGINAL REPORT —
A Port St. Joe man, 61, was fatally injured in a traffic accident on Highway 71 near Wewahitchka Thursday evening.
According to a release from the Florida Highway Patrol, a black sedan was traveling southbound on State Road 71 and failed to slow for a pickup truck and trailer that were turning into a driveway. The sedan rear ended the trailer, and rotated into the northbound lane, colliding with a sport utility vehicle that was northbound on State Road 71.
The driver of the sedan was pronounced deceased on scene, and the driver of the jeep, a 30 year-old Wewahitchka woman, was transported to an area hospital with serious injuries.
The crash is still currently under investigation by the Florida Highway Patrol.
Officials with the Gulf County Sheriff’s Office said they recieved the call to respond to the accident at 6:39 p.m. CST on Dec. 29. It occurred at the intersection of Highway 71 and Forehand road, between Wewahitchka and Dalkeith.
According to a press release from GCSO, State Road 71 is currently closed between County Road 381 and County Road 386 due to the accident.
Meet the Editor
David Adlerstein, The Apalachicola Times’ digital editor, started with the news outlet in January 2002 as a reporter.
Prior to then, David Adlerstein began as a newspaperman with a small Boston weekly, after graduating magna cum laude from Brandeis University in Waltham, Massachusetts. He later edited the weekly Bellville Times, and as business reporter for the daily Marion Star, both not far from his hometown of Columbus, Ohio.
In 1995, he moved to South Florida, and worked as a business reporter and editor of Medical Business newspaper. In Jan. 2002, he began with the Apalachicola Times, first as reporter and later as editor, and in Oct. 2020, also began editing the Port St. Joe Star.