Woman arrested for DUI following 5-vehicle crash on I-4
40-year-old Angela Rosete faces 5 charges of DUI with property damage
PLANT CITY, Fla. - A violent chain reaction on Interstate 4 sent five vehicles crashing into one another Thursday morning. No one was seriously hurt, but one driver's in-car camera caught the chaos of a rear-end collision.
Meanwhile, Florida Highway Patrol troopers suspect the driver who caused tens of thousands of dollars of damage was likely under the influence.
It was just after 8 a.m. on I-4 west, approaching Thonotosassa Road when 40-year-old Angela Rosete began to slow down her car but failed to fully stop in time, slamming into one woman's car. The impact set off a chain reaction collision of five vehicles.
"The fog was very thick. Very dense," recalled semi-truck driver Tony Benson. "I'd seen the traffic coming to a stop."
Benson's truck was one of them "I jumped out of my vehicle, put my gloves on, thinking I need to help somebody out of their vehicle," Benson said.
Once on scene, troopers soon began to suspect there was more to this than just the fog.
"We saw the police doing the breathalyzer to the one lady in the back," Benson said. "We realized it was her."
According to the arrest report, a witness had called 911 before the crash to report Rosete's gray Nissan Rogue "traveling recklessly." A trooper noted that Rosete had glossy eyes, drooping eyelids, and other signs of impairment.
She denied taking any medication and, despite experiencing pain, agreed to field sobriety exercises. The trooper said Rosete failed to follow instructions, struggled to maintain balance, and failed the test.
Rosete was handcuffed and brought to a hospital where the report says she, "would fall asleep during conversation, complain her pain level was nine, then pass out while sitting up."
By Thursday afternoon, Rosete was in sitting in a jail cell. She faces five charges of DUI with property damage.
"It happened so fast," Benson said, watching the dash camera video. "That happened very fast."
Driver braces for rear collision impact
As for the woman in the video, she's pretty shaken up but said she’s just happy to be alive.
"I really hope she's okay," Benson said, "because everybody else did walk away."