A teenager was killed and two other people seriously injured Monday morning in a head-on collision on U.S. 301 in Zephyrhills.
According to the Florida Highway Patrol, Damarcos Michael Ratcliff, 16, of Tampa, was driving a U-Haul rental truck south on U.S. 301, just south of Chancey Road, shortly after 10 a.m.
At the same time, a tractor trailer designed to haul fertilizer was heading north on U.S. 301.
Investigators said that for unknown reasons, the U-Haul truck crossed over the double yellow line of the two-lane road and traveled into the path of the tractor trailer.
The driver of the tractor trailer, identified as Michael Norris, 31, of Bradenton, drove partially onto the shoulder to avoid a collision, but the U-Haul truck ended up colliding with the rear axles of the trailer.
The U-Haul truck rotated and came to rest in the northbound lane of U.S. 301.
Ratcliff died at the scene of the crash. Two passengers in the U-Haul - later identified as Jiro Aman Hall, 14, and Kaneal Rashawn Jones, 23, both of Tampa - were taken to St. Joseph's Hospital with serious injuries.
The crash closed the northbound lanes of U.S. 301 for three hours.