In Memory

Joe McKelvey - Class Of 1988

Head-on crash shuts down Tampa International's main entrance for hours

  • By Marissa Lang, Times Staff Writer

Thursday, July 28, 2011 5:56am

Bay News 9

A Porsche and a United Cab van collided, badly injuring both drivers and closing a stretch of TIA’s main entrance early Thursday.

TAMPA — A head-on collision closed a stretch of Tampa International Airport's main entrance and sent two people to the hospital early Thursday.

Joseph Mckelvey, 42, of North Carolina, was driving a 2006 Porsche the wrong way in the northbound lanes of the George J. Bean Parkway just before 1 a.m. when his car collided with a United Cab van driven by Tamari Sulieman, 59, of Tampa, police said.

Sulieman was entering the airport, police said.

Both drivers were taken to St. Joseph's Hospital, where they were listed in critical condition Thursday morning.

Police are reviewing video that they told Bay News 9 shows the Porsche going the wrong way on the parkway. They do not have footage of the actual collision, they said.

The road was shut down for nearly four hours and was reopened about 4:30 a.m. Thursday, just in time for TIA's first departure of the day at 5:20 a.m., officials said.







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