Driver killed when pickup truck flips on Overseas Highway in Islamorada
An Islamorada man died early Monday morning when his pickup truck drove off U.S. 1 in the Florida Keys and flipped over several times.
The crash happened just after 2:30 a.m. at mile marker 77 on Lower Matecumbe Key.
Jeffrey Robert Leonia, 24, was driving his 2014 Dodge Ram pickup south on the highway when the vehicle left the road, said Lt. Kathleen McKinney, subdistrict commander for the Keys.
A preliminary investigation indicates Leonia may have fallen asleep. When he drove off the road, he may have over-corrected, causing the truck to flip over several times, McKinney said.
“The driver was ejected and expired at the scene,” she said in an email.
Police completely blocked the northbound and southbound lanes of the highway while they investigated the crash. The road was reopened around 5:30 a.m., said Monroe County Sheriff’s Office spokesman Adam Linhardt.
Leonia’s death is the 14th traffic fatality handled this year by the FHP in the Florida Keys outside of Key West, 12 of which happened on U.S. 1, McKinney said.
This story was originally published November 18, 2019 at 8:03 AM.
