Boca Raton Personal Injury Lawyers Blog | Ellis, Ged & Bodden P.A.

South Florida Sun-Sentinel - The Florida Highway Patrol is investigating a single-vehicle crash that killed a Broward County teacher and injured seven high school students returning from a trip to Orlando.

Gerald Jerome Oliphant, 27, died at North Broward Medical Center after the Sunday morning accident at the Coconut Creek Parkway exit ramp on Florida's Turnpike. Six other passengers, including five teenagers, are at Broward General Medical Center, where their condition is not available. The driver, Livingston James Finley, 18, of Fort Lauderdale, is in critical condition at North Broward.

Family and friends told WSVN-Ch/ 7 that Oliphant, a teacher from Oakland Park's South Florida Christian Preparatory Academy, and the seven students were driving back from a high school senior trip at Orlando's Universal Studios. Troopers say Finley fell asleep at the wheel and lost control of the Chevy Suburban. The crash happened shortly after 6 a.m., in the southbound lanes of the turnpike, spokesman Lt. Roger Reyes said.

Five passengers were ejected from the Chevy Suburban, authorities said. No one in the vehicle was wearing a seat belt, FHP said. The other six passengers were identified as: Shantek Ellis, 17; Elizabeth Codie Lewis, 17; Demitri Johnson, 20; Nolan Browne, 17; Tekhoya Browne, 17, and Jackson Walker, 19. Eugenia Ellis told WSVN her daughter was on life support with a collapsed lung Sunday. Friends grieved outside Broward Medical Center for Oliphant, according to WSVN. "He was somebody who we all respect and love, and he was there for me a lot, and I'm going to miss him," Lamont Walker said. Reyes had no additional details about the crash, which is under investigation.