HIGHLAND COUNTY, Fla. (WFLA) — A man has been charged with DUI manslaughter after a 16-year-old girl was killed in a head-on collision, Florida Highway Patrol said.
At about 4pm on May 22, a Ford F350 driven by 44-year-old Thomas Rawlerson was moving in the wrong direction at the US 98, heading north in the southbound lane of the construction zone.
The second vehicle, the Honda Civic, moved south in the southbound lane and drove behind the SUV.
The SUV driver approached the vehicle in the wrong direction, collided with a construction barrel on the side of the road, braking it to the right and piloting it.
A 16-year-old girl driving a Honda Civic brake when the SUV was hit directly from the road and was hit directly in front of a Ford F350. She was declared dead at the scene.
Raulerson’s blood alcohol level is .445, more than five times the legal limit. He was taken to a local hospital where he was seriously injured before being arrested and charged on May 30th.
He was charged with two counts of DUI property damage and DUI manslaughter.
