PORT ST. LUCIE, Fla. — Three people died and two others were injured, all ranging from 16 to 20 years old, when their pickup truck crashed into a tree late Friday, Port St. Lucie police said.
At 11:35 p.m., police responded to the 1900 block of Southeast Veterans Memorial Parkway for a single-vehicle crash, spokesman Lt. John Dellacroce said in a news release.
A 2017 red Dodge Ram 1500 with five occupants was traveling south when the vehicle went off the roadway and struck a tree, west of U.S. 1.
A 20-year-old woman, an 18-year-old man and a 16-year-old boy were pronounced dead at the scene.
A 17-year-old girl was taken to a hospital with serious injuries and a 19-year-old man was in stable condition.
The victims have not been identified, but they were from Port St. Lucie and Okeechobee, Dellacroce told WPTV.
Julia Amato, who lives nearby, arrived at the scene after the crash.
"I heard a pickup truck come speeding across U.S. 1," she told WPTV reporter Cassandra Garcia. "I was in the garage with my friends talking and as were sitting there talking we heard a bang."
Amato said she rushed toward the truck to help and found a horrible situation.
"When we got on scene, we saw the truck had crashed and flipped and the people deceased," she said.
Amato has called the area "dead man's turn."
"There's constant accidents," she said. "Everyone takes this turn a little fast, I think not realizing how sharp it is and how long that turn is."
The investigation is active and ongoing at this time. Anyone who may have witnessed the crash or has video surveillance of the incident is asked to call traffic homicide at 772-871-5001.
Flowers were by the tree and candles were nearby. Friends and loved ones were stopping by.
"I'm just heartbroken for the families that have to go through this," said Amato, who spoke with the mother of one of the females in the truck. "It's kids lost. It doesn't matter how old they are. Some mothers are burying their children."
In August 2020, two Port St. Lucie high school baseball players died and one other baseball player was hospitalized when a gray Toyota struck a light pole near the intersection of California Boulevard and Heatherwood Boulevard.
In November 2018, five people were killed and two others injured in a three-vehicle crash at South Fifth Street and West Midway Road near Fort Pierce. The deceased ranged from 16 to 28.