Man dies after being struck at crash site

One man is dead and another is in custody following a hit-and-run crash involving two cars and a tow truck, according to the Florida Highway Patrol.

It happened about 1 a.m. Wednesday on northbound Interstate 95 just north of the Commercial Boulevard exit.

Tow truck driver Robby Sternberg was helping Aleshandra Farve, 45, of North Bay Village, whose damaged rental car was on the shoulder of the highway.

“I was towing the lady’s vehicle and as I was loading up I got out of the truck to tie the lady’s car down and all of a sudden I saw a vehicle come straight at me and it pushed me to the side of the highway and another car came around me,” he said. “I don’t know if it flipped over me or went around me but I’m lucky I’m alive right now.”

Juan Pedro Garcia, 63, of North Bay Village, had arrived to pick up Farve and was examining the damage when a 2018 Volkswagen struck the 2018 Ford Focus that was being towed, pinning Garcia against the guardrail, the FHP said.

“A tow truck was loading a vehicle onto the rear when another vehicle left the roadway colliding with the rear of the vehicle that was being loaded on the tow truck, causing that vehicle to rotate around it, hitting a pedestrian, a non-motorist, up against the guardrail,” said trooper James Rodriguez.

Rodriguez said VW driver Bradley Ruben, 32, of Hollywood, got out of his car and ran away. Broward Sheriff’s deputies caught him a short time later. Ruben was taken to Broward Health Medical Center as a precaution and then detained.

Garcia was taken to Broward Health North Medical Center where he later died, the FHP said.

The tow truck driver was unhurt.

“I’ve been doing this for 12 years and never thought anything like this would happen to me,” Sternberg said. “I’m lucky I’m here right now.”

Rodriguez said it was too soon to know if alcohol was a contributing factor in the crash.

“It is currently under investigation,” he said.

Ruben was expected to face charges that include leaving the scene of a crash involving a death, officials said.