Pickup driver dies in collision with tractor-trailer

Broward sheriff ’s detectives are investigating a fatal collision between a tractor-trailer and a pickup in Deerfield Beach.

Robert C. Montgomery, 59, of Deerfield Beach, died in a collision with a Freightliner semitrailer driven by Onel Gonzalez-Alvarez, 29, of Miami Gardens, investigators said.

It happened about 5:40 a.m. Friday as Montgomery was driving his 2008 Toyota Tundra northbound in the 4400 block of North Dixie Highway.

Gonzalez-Alvarez had tried to make a left turn into a Marathon gas station but another 18-wheeler was already parked at the fuel pumps. He backed his Freightliner into the northbound lanes of Dixie Highway to avoid blocking the southbound lanes, detectives said.

Montgomery was traveling in the inside lane of Dixie Highway and tried to avoid hitting the semitrailer by steering his pickup into the outside lane, but the Tundra struck the rear of the semi-trailer about 230 feet from the gas station entrance, investigators said.

Montgomery was taken to Broward Health North, where he died Friday morning. GonzalezAlvarez was not injured and remained at the crash scene.

Investigators are asking anyone with information about the collision to contact Detective Michael Wiley at 954-321-4840. Anonymous tips can be left with Broward Crime Stoppers at 954-493-8477 or online at browardcrimestoppers.org.