Early in the morning of February 9, 2014, a driver in an SUV entered a Florida interstate the wrong way and collided head-on into a sedan. Sadly, five people were killed in this deadly crash on I-275 in Tampa. According to the Florida Highway Patrol, this tragic collision took place around 2:00 a.m. Sunday morning and involved a Ford Expedition SUV and a Hyundai Sonata car.
Four fraternity brothers from the Sigma Beta Rho fraternity at the University of South Florida were traveling in the Sonata and were killed. The identities of the fraternity brothers have been confirmed as: Ankeet Harshad Patel, 22, Dammie Yesudhas, 21, Jobin Joy Kuriakose, 21, and “Jim” Ilias, 20.
The impact resulted in a fiery crash, killing the male SUV driver. Because of the fire and how badly burned the body was, authorities had a difficult time identifying the driver of the SUV; however, they later confirmed his identity as 28-year-old Daniel Lee Morris.
According to authorities, Morris recently moved from Michigan to Tampa and had been living with a friend. According to News 10, Morris was at a party and left early Sunday in his friend’s SUV that he borrowed. Authorities said that Morris’ significant other told them “he was emotionally distressed and possibly on a mission to take his own life.”
No one was traveling with Morris at the time of the crash.
The police closed the interstate for several hours following the collision for an investigation and cleanup.
Mallard Perez is deeply saddened to hear of this tragic collision and would like to extend our deepest condolences to the family and friends of those who died in this crash.
