One man dead in livestock truck crash

WESTON, Fla., Feb. 9 (UPI) -- A crash between a livestock truck and a tractor-trailer killed one man and scattered about 100 goats, cows, pigs and chickens near Weston, Fla., police said.

Monday night's collision on U.S. 27 closed traffic in both directions for six hours and some lanes were still closed Tuesday as the roundup of farm animals continued, said Sgt. Mark Wysocky of the Florida Highway Patrol.

"It's a mess," Wysocky told The South Florida Sun-Sentinel in a story published Tuesday.

The accident occurred on a dark stretch of road about 15 miles north of Weston when Benigno Gomez, 43, of Crystal River, lost control of a truck hauling the livestock trailer and jackknifed it into oncoming traffic, police said.

A tractor-trailer driven by John James, 64, of Deltona, collided with Gomez's rig. James died at the scene. Gomez was not injured, the newspaper reported.

The crash killed some animals and others were euthanized at the scene, while about 100 scattered into nearby areas, police said.