Lee Roy Selmon Expressway Wrong-Way Crash Leads to Arrest

TAMPA, FL — A 26-year-old Tampa woman faces DUI charges following a Friday night wrong-way crash on the Lee Roy Selmon Expressway exit ramp at U.S. 41.

According to the Florida Higwhay Patrol, Dezelle Bennett was heading west on U.S. 41 around 10:11 p.m. Sept. 30 in a Chrysler 200. Troopers say Bennett tried to get on the expressway at the eastbound exit ramp.

When Bennett saw approaching traffic, troopers say she steered onto the outside shoulder, “continued to travel through on the curbed grass median separating the on/off ramps.” After that, a highway patrol report said, she struck a guardrail and then a piece of road construction equipment.

Bennett was taken to Tampa General Hospital with minor injuries after the crash, the report noted. She was later charged with two counts of DUI with property damage and driving the wrong way.

Bennett was booked into the Hillsborough County Jail. Troopers say “she appeared highly intoxicated,” according to the report. Bennett refused a breath test. She was being held Saturday in lieu of $1,000 bond.

No further information is available at this time.

Booking photo courtesy of the Hillsborough County Sheriff's Office