Clewiston Man Injured In Early Morning Crash
CLEWISTON, FL. -- Anthony J. Blackman, 25 of Clewiston was seriously injured in a crash at 3 a.m. Sunday morning April 10th. He was a passenger in a 2002 Ford 150 truck driven by 22-year old Cody Matthew Hartley of Lehigh Acres.
The truck was traveling south in the southbound lane of County Road 833, 5.3 miles south of State Road 80, within Hendry County, Florida. For unknown reason, it drifted off the roadway and onto the grass shoulder, which sloped downward toward the west.
The driver steered toward the left causing it to begin rotating counter-clockwise, overturning onto its right side causing the driver (who was unrestrained) to be fully ejected. Hartley was pronounced deceased at the scene.
The truck overturned onto the outside portion of the southbound lane before arcing west and reentering the shoulder, coming to final rest within the shoulder, on its left side and roof while facing southeast. Blackman emerged from truck with incapacitating injuries and was transported to Lee Memorial Hospital via helicopter.
Neither person was wearing a seat belt according to the FHP report. Charges and an investigation into the influence of alcohol were pending.
How is it known that the young Mr. Hartley was the driver of this truck? Was the investigation already completed with verified findings that the driver was Mr. Hartley?? I wonder if fingerprints were taken off the steering wheel to prove that he was indeed the driver of this truck, anyone of these two gentlemen could have been the driver. When these kind of roll overs happens everything includng the driver and passenger gets thrown around. If there were supposed witnesses, the facts and a longer investigation should be conducted. Mr. Blackman is a Montura Volunteer Firefighter and the first responders that arrived at the scene were indeed his buddies (Jason, Donald Bruce, and Jr.) and could be possibly covering up for Mr. Blackman so that no charges or further trouble could become of this accident with Mr. Blackman. I'm not saying that Mr. Blackman is guilty or not guilty of being the driver of this truck BUT... I feel that if Mr. Hartley was NOT the driver his name should not been dragged through the mud as he is not here to speak for himself. My prayers and condolances go out to the Hartley family for that this young man will be truly missed and prayers to Mr. Blackman that he makes a speedy recovery.
ReplyDeleteI agree, anyone who really knows AJ knows that he never let anyone drive his truck whether he is sober or intoxicated. Someone should dig a whole lot deeper into this accident so that the wrong person doesn't take the blame. Cody should not be the fall guy for this accident just cause he died in this accident.
ReplyDeleteEmotions often run high when dealing with a tragedy such as this. Its human nature to want to lay the blame at some one or some thing. To suggest that the Montura first responder unit had anything but interest in aiding and helping is not warranted...a friend and a volunteer lay dead and dieing...they are not responsible for any investigation that took place..simply there to try and aid in any lifesaving techniques that they are trained for, that they VOLUNTEER for...and that they accomplish and do on a daily basis. Its very sad that a young man lost his life, its very sad that another is still struggling with his...to suggest that anyone at anytime had ulterior motives is reprehensible at best...with regards to the first responders. Due process is what the FHP will proceed with in their investigation of this tragic accident...let them follow through and collect the facts and determine what actually occured before emotional statements and accusations are made that will only add insult to injury...the right thing to do is to keep emotional observation and speculation out of the equation and allow FHP to conclude thier investigation, and allow the respective families to grieve and heal...gossip has no palce here.
ReplyDeleteAs an after thought...even what is supposed to be credible news is inacurate at best...his name is not Andrew Blackman...if the reporter of this story couldnt even get that right, how many other details did he miss?
ReplyDeleteIts VERY pathetic that people in this community need to play the blame game when in fact they dont know what truly happened or KNOW THE CORRECT FACTS!!! These two gentlemen are well known in the community and Cody's death is tragic and AJ is still in the hospital recovering. And for people to insinuate that the Montura Fire Dept are covering for AJ is pure bullshit!!! When arriving upon the scene they didnt know who was involved. Once they found out, Im pretty sure that covering for AJ was the last think on their mind. They were trying to help their friends, Cody and AJ!!!! We do not need people to give their opinions on what happen when truly the only people are those involved!!! That is what FHP is for, they will conduct an investigation. The accident is tragic enough, we do not need people running mouth or insinuating ANYTHING!!!!
ReplyDeleteThe first name of Mr. Blackman has been corrected and a few additional details have been added to the story. Thanks to the reader's comment to point out the error.
ReplyDelete-Editor
Profanity is uncalled for no matter how high tensions may rise. I am a Volunteer Firefighter and are friends with both AJ & Cody. I have read all comments regarding this accident and I understand the concern & emotions that have risen from this article. I think what had started these comments was not gossip or just talk but BAD reporting. The above article has been changed now but not by much indeed had incorrect information & could certainly been worded differently. I have confidence that FHP will do their job with this investigation. Both young men are well known and respected and instead of using profanity and dogging each other we should do but one thing and pray for the families in this tragic accident. Being a firefighter myself, I would like to say ALL firefighters Keep up the good work and God Bless You All because I know its not an easy job.
ReplyDeleteI agree with the person writing above me (the 8:57am comment) Everyone is missing the point here. The families of both of these boys are struggling with very hard times and you are all arguing about things that can not be changed. AJ is recovering thank God and Cody's family just layed him to rest yesterday. So you all need to put all of this engery into praying for Cody's family that they can find some kind of healing in this tradegy and for AJ and his family that he recovers soon and has no lasting disabilities or other ailments from this tradegy. You all need to realize that those VOLUNTEER Fire fighters do not get paid they are there to help EVERYONE. Yes they are friends with AJ but they were also Friends of Cody's and I know these boys also and I also know that the last thing on their minds was who was driving that vehicle...all they cared about was taking care of their FRIENDS!!!!!!
ReplyDeleteYa they don't get paid.....$25 per call.
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