ST. AUGUSTINE, Fla. — A 64-year-old woman is dead, and a 59-year-old man has serious injuries after a crash in St. Augustine on Wednesday evening.
The St. Johns County Sheriff’s Office says it happened at the intersection of State Road 16 and US-1 South. It involved a Tesla and a person on a scooter. The woman was on the scooter, and the man was driving the Tesla at high speed when he hit her from behind. St. Johns County Sheriff’s deputies say the car also caught on fire.
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Action News Jax was on the scene as the intersection was blocked off for hours.
Witnesses like Bruce Fulton say he heard the crash and saw the person inside when he came out of his Flagler Inn hotel room.
“I was sitting upstairs on the porch, and I heard a boop-boop, you know, like a police car does when they’re trying to get somebody to pull over. And then almost directly after that I heard the crash, a big crunch,” Fulton said.
He said it looked like the car was followed by a law enforcement vehicle.
“I’m not sure if the gentleman lost control trying to run away from the cops or whether he was some type of nefarious person, they were trying to stop him at any cost to make sure he didn’t get away,” Fulton said.
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Fulton says he’s been in several accidents himself, but he’s never seen anything like this.
“I know what it’s like to wake up in an ambulance, and it’s not a good thing,” Fulton said.
The Sheriff’s office says the Florida Highway Patrol is now leading the investigation.
The St. Johns County Sheriff’s Office released the following statement regarding the crash:
On July 8, 2026, just before 7:30 p.m., an SJSO deputy who stopped at the Circle K gas station on SR 16 and Masters Drive, was notified by a business employee about a suspicious individual in a black Tesla. When the deputy walked up to the vehicle to make contact with the subject, the driver exited the parking lot at a high rate of speed. The deputy reported the reckless driver over the radio to nearby units. As the Tesla traveled eastbound on SR 16, it struck an individual on a motorized scooter. With complete disregard to public safety, the driver continued traveling towards the intersection of SR 16 and US-1, where he passed a second SJSO deputy.
Once that deputy had a visual on the Tesla, the deputy activated the emergency lights to safely u-turn at the railroad tracks. Just seconds later, the Tesla struck a pole, traveled across all lanes of US-1 and into the parking lot of the Flagler Inn, where it overturned. The crash occurred before the deputy had time to initiate a traffic stop. Deputies arrived on scene immediately due to the information about a reckless driver in the area. Law enforcement was not in pursuit of the black Tesla and the chain of events were captured on the deputy’s dash camera. The driver of the motorized scooter was pronounced deceased on scene and the driver of the Tesla was transported to the hospital with serious injuries.
See the deputy’s dash cam video below:
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