A single-car wreck on US 90 in Monticello left one Pinetta man dead and his brother in serious condition.
According to the Florida Highway Patrol (FHP) reports, on Friday, Feb. 19, at 6:49 a.m., Jose Ryan Hernandez, 20, of Pinetta, was driving a 1995 Dodge Pickup truck westbound on US Highway 90 in Monticello. For unknown reasons, Hernandez traveled across the oncoming lane and onto the opposite grass shoulder. The vehicle collided with a tree, rotated and overturned. The momentum of the crash continued to carry the vehicle into a second tree, which hit the passenger door. The vehicle came to a final rest facing southwest in the area of the collision with the second tree.
The passenger, Robert Christopher Croft, 23, of Pinetta, died on scene. Hernandez was left in serious condition and transported to Tallahassee Memorial Hospital.
According to the FHP report, Croft was not wearing a seat belt and alcohol tests are pending.
The Jefferson County Sheriff’s Office and Jefferson County EMS assisted FHP during the on-scene investigation. FHP Trooper Shipman is the crash investigator and FHP Corporal Kirlkland is the homicide investigator.