GREEN COVE SPRINGS – An 18-year-old driving the wrong way on State Road 16 was killed shortly be fore school started at Clay High on Wednesday, Oct. 22, in a head-on collision , the Florida Highway …
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GREEN COVE SPRINGS – An 18-year-old driving the wrong way on State Road 16 was killed shortly before school started at Clay High on Wednesday, Oct. 22, in a head-on collision, the Florida Highway Patrol reported.
David Nicholas McLaren Jr. died at the scene, FHP said, after he was traveling westbound in the eastbound lane when his car clipped the left rear of a pickup truck that was in the westbound lane at Randall Road. McLaren’s car continued westbound in the on-coming lane and was struck head-on by a car driven by Scott Hakes, 21, of Jacksonville.
Hakes was hospitalized with broken ribs, eye socket, nose and leg. He told First Coast News the impact was horrific.
“That car came in my lane and smoked me, smoked the hell out of me fast,” he said.
Hakes said it will take months of rehabilitation before he can walk again.
The driver of the truck that was struck from behind wasn’t injured. Nobody involved in the accident was a student or staff member at Clay High. The crash happened 30 minutes before classes started at 7 a.m., and the investigation shut down all lanes of S.R. 16 for 8 hours, 55 minutes – two hours after classes ended. Students were required to use the rear entrance to leave the school.
