Witness: Driver was swerving over road
Woman was talking to 911 operator as Bronco hit teen
Posted: July 10, 2010 - 12:03am
By JUSTINE GRIFFIN
The last thing Tina Berry of St. Augustine, thought she would see on Thursday afternoon would be a fatal car accident.
Berry and her 14-year-old daughter Brittany were the first to witness the tragic accident that killed an 18-year-old woman on Wildwood Drive on Thursday afternoon.
She was driving home on State Road 207 from running errands in Palatka with her daughter when something strange happened.
A man in the red Ford Bronco in the lane next to her kept swerving dangerously close to her gold Ford Taurus, Berry said.
"When he pulled in front of me he continued to swerve all over the place," she said.
Berry decided to call 911 to alert law enforcement of the dangerous driving going on in front of her. Her plan was to follow him from a distance until a deputy could catch up with him.
"Once we turned onto Wildwood Drive, it got worse," she said. "He would swerve into the other lane and almost hit a work truck on the side of the road."
Right around the Coronado development at Winterhawk Drive, a young woman on a dirt bike was riding in the road without a helmet. Berry said she watched as Shae Lynn Burchfield attempted to make a turn onto Winterhawk Drive from the bike lane.
But she didn't make the turn.
The red Bronco struck Burchfield and sent her and the dirt bike skidding across Wildwood Drive, Berry said. The Record is not using the name of the driver of the Bronco, a 50-year-old St. Augustine man, because he has not been charged.
She watched from her car as the dirt bike erupted into flames, which caught Burchfield on fire.
"At this point I had forgotten I was on the phone with 911," Berry said. "I was yelling at my daughter to cover her eyes."
Just then, another car pulled over on the side of the road and the driver ran to help Burchfield, Berry said. The man was able to get her off of the road and used his shirt to extinguish the flames, she said.
The Good Samaritan was treated for burns on his hands from the flames once medics arrived.
Moments later, the driver of the Bronco "stumbled" from his car and over to the scene, Berry said. The Bronco traveled another 50 feet from the accident scene before stopping, she said.
"All I could do was yell at him to stay away from her," she said.
The driver of the Bronco gave his shirt to Burchfield and then stood silently by the road, Berry said. St. Johns Fire Rescue units and St. Johns County Sheriff's deputies arrived and put out the bike fire. Berry said they performed CPR on Burchfield, but it was too late.
"What a terrible, terrible thing," Berry said.
The incident is under investigation by the Florida Highway Patrol, which did not return calls Friday.
http://staugustine.com/news/local-news/2010-07-09/witness-driver-was-swerving-over-road
