August Wrong-Way Driver Used Booze, Cocaine Before Fatal Crash

By Matt Wiley

A toxicology report indicates that the wrong-way driver who struck an ambulance driven by a Wesley Chapel resident in August was under the influence of alcohol and illegal drugs. 

According to the Florida Highway Patrol (FHP), Edward Jose Duran, 23, of Tampa, died on I-275 near downtown Tampa, after a head-on collision with a Transcare ambulance in the early hours of August 15. The toxicology report indicates that Duran had a blood-alcohol content of 0.21 (0.13 points above the legal 0.08 BAC limit). Duran also tested positive for cocaine.

On August 15, just before 3 a.m., FHP received a call about a wrong-way driver in a 1997 Honda Accord (later identified as Duran) headed west on I-4 near 50^th St. in the eastbound lanes near Tampa. Duran continued west and merged into the inside, southbound lane of I-275 heading north.

At the same time, Tarel Omar Peralta, 24, of Wesley Chapel, was driving a Transcare ambulance with Kemecia Tasha Gaye Smith, 24, of Lutz, headed south on I-275, just north of Floribraska Ave.

The two vehicles collided head-on, causing the ambulance to spin counter-clockwise and roll onto the driver’s side, landing on the inside southbound shoulder of I-275 facing north. No patients were inside the ambulance at the time of the crash.