Man dies after driving car into Tampa Bay

Author: the associated press
Published:

TAMPA, Fla. (AP) – A Florida man died Wednesday after he drove his car through a barrier wall at the end of a fishing pier, plunging the vehicle and himself into Tampa Bay, authorities said.

Richard McCrocklin, 52, of Eustis, Fla., was seen standing next to a two-door 2012 Mercedes-Benz at about 2 p.m. Wednesday when he suddenly hopped into the car and drove off the Skyway Fishing Pier, the Florida Highway Patrol said in a statement.

“He was probably really going at least 100 miles an hour and I just barely had enough time to jump out of the way,” witness Michael Munro told WFTS-TV/ABC Action News in Tampa.

St. Petersburg Rescue divers eventually found the dead driver and car completely submerged in the bay’s waters, FHP said.

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