Martin County, FL : Palm City man seriously injured after tractor-trailer crash on Martin Highway Thursday night, August 18, 2016

A 51-year-old Palm City man was seriously injured in a Thursday night crash involving a tractor-trailer, according to officials.

Douglas Allen Kelley was driving a 2008 Smart Car westbound on Martin Highway about 9:30 p.m. when it turned left at Citrus Boulevard into the path of an eastbound tractor-trailer, said sheriff's officials.

The tractor-trailer's driver, 43-year-old George Thomas Groves of Punta Gorda, tried to swerve to the right to avoid the crash, but hit the car, officials said. The car went off the road and flipped over on its side and into a ditch.

Kelley was flown to Lawnwood Regional Medical Center & Heart Institute in Fort Pierce with serious injuries, said Martin County Fire Rescue spokesman Doug Killane. Groves and his passenger, 26-year-old Christen Clark Brightwell of Punta Gorda, both were taken to Martin Medical Center with nonlife-threatening injuries.

The crash closed the westbound lane of Southwest Martin Highway at Southwest Citrus Boulevard for about an hour.

Groves and Brightwell had been treated and released by Friday, said hospital spokesman Scott Samples. An updated condition for Kelley wasn't available Friday. The cause of the crash remained under investigation.

Source :
Palm City man seriously injured after tractor-trailer crash Thursday night in Martin County