FHP: Car strikes tow truck, hurts Road Ranger

Crash occurs in month state mounts emergency vehicle safety campaign.

FORT LAUDERDALE — A Broward County man who works for the Road Rangers Service Patrol was seriously injured Tuesday when his truck was struck by another vehicle after the driver — a West Palm Beach man — lost control while traveling on Interstate 95, according to the Florida Highway Patrol.

Zucchero N. Cole, 23, was inside his parked Road Rangers tow truck on the shoulder of southbound I-95 approaching Cypress Creek Road near Fort Lauderdale’s northern border when a Chrysler 300 came off the roadway and veered into the truck.

Robert B. Ortiz, 37, of West Palm Beach, was the driver of the Chrysler and was taken to a Broward hospital with minor injuries.

Cole, of Lauderhill, was taken to Broward Health Medical Center and was listed in serious condition. Ricardo Sanchez, a passenger in the tow truck, was not injured, according to FHP.

Road Rangers offer free highway services assisting motorists and law enforcement following incidents on interstate highways.

The crash took place during January’s “Move Over Month,” a campaign by the Florida Department of Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles urging motorists to move over a lane for emergency and service vehicles stopped along the roadway.

According to FHP, there were 212 crashes and almost 17,000 citations issued statewide in 2017 for violating the “Move Over” law, which requires

motorists to vacate the lane closest to an emergency vehicle or slow to a speed of 20 mph below the posted speed limit if the driver cannot move over safely.

An FHP trooper was seriously injured when he was struck by a Honda Accord while outside his patrol car conducting speed enforcement on northbound I-95 in Lantana last October.

FHP’s report on Tuesday’s crash did not say whether Ortiz would be cited.