Selmon Expressway Triple Fatality Victims Identified

TAMPA, FL — The Tampa Police Department has released the names of the three people killed during a chain reaction crash on the Selmon Expressway Thursday afternoon. Police say the people inside Hyundai that erupted in flames were a New Tampa father, mother and their 8-year-old daughter. A Brandon woman has been charged in connection with the crash.

Police say Luiz Felipak, 41, Rita Felipak, 29, and Giorgia Felipak, 8, were in the Hyundai that was struck from behind by a Kia driven by 29-year-old Amber Nicole Perera.

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According to police, Perera was heading eastbound on the expressway about a half-mile east of the West Euclid Avenue entrance ramp around 4:12 p.m. Aug. 10. Witnesses told police the Kia was traveling at "a high rate of speed," according to an email from the police department.

Perera, police say, attempted to pass at least two vehicles going in the same direction as her before striking the rear of a Hyundai that had three people inside.

The Hyundai spun into the median, entered into the westbound lanes and hit a Jeep and an Infiniti SUV, the department's email said. The Hyundai then landed in an embankment, "fully engulfed in flames."

Police say Perera took off after the crash.

"A Seffner man who arrived shortly after the crash ran to the Hyundai and joined others in extricating the driver from the vehicle," the email said. The driver and the other occupants of the Hyundai, including a child, died at the scene, the agency added.

The Jeep's driver, Tracy Lee Kelly, 43, of Seminole suffered serious, but non-life-threatening injuries. The Infiniti's driver, Jerry Camilo Lamberti, 20, of Brandon, was not injured.

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Perera, the police department said, was captured minutes after the crash. She has been charged with three counts of DUI manslaughter, DUI with serious bodily injury, hit and run and tampering with evidence. The last charge, police explained, arose when Perera is accused of attempting to hide vials of her blood that had been drawn as evidence in the DUI cases.

The Selmon Expressway was closed to traffic for several hours following the crash.

No further information about the crash is being released at this time.

Image via Shutterstock