$166 ticket dismissed after media attention

Woman was ticketed after crashing to avoid sofa that fell onto road

A couple who was given a $166 traffic citation after crashing their car to avoid a sofa that fell from a truck on I-95 may be getting a reprieve.

After media coverage reported the incident, the Florida Highway Patrol said it will recommend the ticket be dismissed, spokesman Lt. Yanko Reyes said.

A trooper issued the $166 citation for failure to drive in a single lane after the couple swerved around the tumbling sofa, lost control of their car and rolled over. The single-car crash happened north of Boca Raton and landed the driver and passenger in the hospital.

“FHP is working with the courts to have the citation dismissed after supervisors conducted a meeting in reference to this incident and a decision was made that the citation had been issued in error,” Reyes wrote in an email. “Thus, recommendation of dismissal seem reasonable.”

The driver’s boyfriend, Jake Singer, detailed what happened shortly after the Feb. 20 accident.

According to Singer, who grew up in Boca Raton, the couple was driving home to Washington, D.C., when a couch fell off the back of a truck and into their lane of traffic.

Singer said Trooper Eric Flint issued the ticket to his girlfriend, who didn’t want to be identified, as they were being checked at Lawnwood Hospital, where they were taken by ambulance.

At the time, Reyes defended the decision to write the citation.

“You have to look at the totality of the circumstances,” Reyes said. “Remember, in Florida it is recommended to have at least a two-vehicle length between your vehicle and the vehicles in front of you because that way you have enough time to react in case something like this happens, in case somebody brakes, in case debris falls on the roadway, you’re able to avoid any and all difficulties.”

One man is dead and another is facing several charges, including homicide, after a shooting in suburban West Palm Beach Saturday.

A Palm Beach Sheriff ’s sergeant responded to a report of a shooting in a parking lot at 7701 Southern Boulevard, in a medical plaza just west of Florida’s Turnpike. Upon his arrival, the sergeant saw a man with a gun in his hand and another man on the ground, the sheriff ’s office said.

The sheriff’s sergeant shouted at the man, later identified as Wilfred Preval, Jr., 34, of Miramar, to drop his gun, which he did, and he was arrested, according to the sheriff ’s office.

Prior to the shooting, Preval ran into the Advanced Diagnostic Group office building, where he allegedly threatened multiple people. He left the building soon after and began firing his gun, according to the sheriff ’s office.

Advanced Diagnostic Group was closed Sunday and no one there could be reached for comment.

The victim was not immediately identified and the sheriff ’s office did not say if the victim and suspect knew each other or what led to the shooting.

Preval is charged with homicide, aggravated assault with a deadly weapon and two counts of discharging a firearm on public property.

He is being held at the Palm Beach County Jail on no bond. Attorney information for Preval was not available Sunday.