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Truck Driver Killed While Walking Over To Help Accident Victims near Daytona

When James Darnell Collier, aged 37, saw the wrecked vehicle along Interstate 4, seven miles west of the International Speedway Boulevard exit in Daytona Beach, he did not hesitate to stop his truck on the highway's shoulder to see if help was needed.

According to the Florida Highway Patrol, Collier was wearing a reflective vest and walking over to the crashed car, when, around 2 a.m., an eastbound Kia Sedona approached the scene, swerved to the right to avoid the wrecked car and hit Collier on the highway's shoulder. The FHP said Collier was pronounced dead at the scene.

Collier, of Jacksonville, had loaded cargo in Orlando and was heading towards Jacksonville with his 14-year-old nephew, Darnell Collier, who was asleep in the cab. The boy was woken up by police officers who broke the news that his uncle had been hit while walking over to help victims of a crash. "I thought it was a joke," Darnell later said, "but I looked outside and saw all the cop cars and I broke down crying."

The Florida crash is still under investigation and tests are pending to see if the Sedona driver, Dennis Ruddoi, aged 60, of Casselberry, may have been driving while intoxicated.

The attorneys of Johnson & Gilbert would like to express their most heartfelt condolences to the family and friends of James Darnell Collier.

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