Interstate 75 southbound reopened shortly before noon Wednesday after law enforcement officials said a wrong-way driver caused a fatal crash along a Collier County segment of the freeway. The road was closed for nearly eight hours following the three-vehicle crash.
The Florida Highway Patrol said DUI manslaughter charges have been filed against the driver, a 24-year-old women from Naples. She was traveling northbound on the southbound side of 75 when she hit two other vehicles head-on at mile marker 110 shortly after 4 a.m.
An FHP report said Genise Gardenia Taylor was driving a 2014 Nissan Rogue that hit the other vehicles.
A 96-year-old Naples man was the driver of one of the two southbound vehicles, a 2025 Volvo XC60 SUV. He suffered critical injuries and died later at a hospital.
A 57-year-old man from Nashua, New Hampshire, was the driver of the second southbound vehicle, a 2019 Chevrolet Suburban, and suffered non-incapacitating injuries and was transported to an area hospital.
Taylor suffered minor injuries and was transported to an area hospital. She was later arrested on DUI Manslaughter charges by the FHP.
The FHP said the freeway would likely reopen by noon, Wednesday.
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