Florida: Marion County firefighter injured while working accident scene

A Marion County Fire Rescue driver/engineer was injured Tuesday afternoon July 3, 2018 while his crew was helping victims, one of them a pregnant woman, of a two-vehicle accident. The firefighter, 10-year veteran Brendan Rooney, was struck by a Ford Focus that was eastbound on County Road 326 about a half mile east of Northwest 77th Street.

Michele Olney told the Star-Banner that she slowed down when she approached the scene of the first accident. But the driver behind her, Dominique Oliver, 28, of Ocala, swerved around her and kept going, eventually striking a fire truck and Rooney.

Authorities said Rooney suffered non-life-threatening injuries as he was treated and released at Ocala Regional Hospital..

Oliver was arrested by FHP troopers and charged with drug possession. They also said he would be cited for the crash.

As for the original accident: It involved two Hyundai Elantras, one of which hydroplaned and struck the other. Three people were injured, and they were taken to a local hospital for treatment.

Firefighters, who were at the location, were extricating the pregnant woman. Rooney went to the fire truck to get equipment when he was hit, according to witnesses and fire officials.

Related Links

Links provided with these articles were active and accurate as of the posting of the article to ResponderSafety.com. However, web sites change and the organization hosting the page at the link may have moved or removed it since this article was posted. Therefore, some links may no longer be active.

Scroll to top