LAKE COUNTY, FLORIDA — A semi-truck overturned and its driver was hospitalized after a crash on State Road 33 Friday night that began when a Mini Cooper crossed into oncoming traffic and struck the semi, setting off a chain-reaction collision that killed two people in a pickup truck, according to the Florida Highway Patrol.

Troopers said the crash happened around 7:00 p.m. on State Road 33 in Lake County, north of Swamp Drive.

According to FHP, a 2009 Mini Cooper driven by Seenarine Hardeo, 50, of Groveland, was traveling northbound on SR-33 when it traveled into the southbound lane and collided with the semi-truck.

FHP said the impact caused the semi-truck to veer into the northbound lanes and into the path of a 2006 Chevrolet Silverado pickup truck. Troopers said the front of the semi-truck collided with the front left of the Chevy pickup, and both vehicles ran off the roadway. The semi-truck then overturned, according to investigators.

The semi-truck driver was transported to South Lake Hospital with non-life-threatening injuries, troopers said.

FHP said the Chevy pickup’s driver, a 22-year-old man from Frostproof, and his passenger, an 18-year-old woman from Tallahassee, were pronounced dead at the scene.

Troopers said Hardeo was arrested on charges of DUI manslaughter and is facing two counts of DUI manslaughter, a second-degree felony. Authorities said Hardeo was not injured in the crash and was booked into the Lake County Jail Friday night, where he was being held without bond.

Court records in Lake County indicate Hardeo previously pleaded no contest to felony DUI and driving with a suspended license in 2007, and documents in that case referenced other DUI incidents in New York in the early 2000s that led to his license being revoked.

The investigation remains ongoing.

📸 Image(s) used under fair use for news reporting.