A man has said that he believes he saw Pittsburgh Steelers quarterback Dwayne Haskins just minutes before he was hit by a dump truck and killed in a highway accident in Florida.
For reasons that remain unclear, Mr Haskins was on foot trying to cross the lanes going west on Interstate 595 on Saturday morning when he was hit by the dump truck.
“I was dropping off my daughter to an airline at the Fort Lauderdale Airport in the morning,” Chris Stanley told NBC 6 South Florida.
He said he was driving home after leaving the airport and as he drove towards the off-ramp to Interstate 95 heading north, he noticed several vehicles suddenly crossing into his lane.
“And what I noticed was a Mack truck, or a big tractor-trailer, with also another vehicle that started moving a little bit to the left,” he said. “I was in the left lane and then there was the right lane. And then I noticed an individual there starting to make their way onto the road.”
Mr Stanley said the man appeared to be moving onto the highway.
“He was about halfway, to a quarter way in the right lane, already onto the highway and I was already concerned that somebody was going to strike him right there at that moment,” he said.
Mr Stanley was worried enough to call 911 at 6.31am. Florida Highway Patrol officials have said the crash was reported at 6.37am – just six minutes later.
He added that he didn’t see a car alongside the highway that could have belonged to Mr Haskins.
“I did not see any vehicle nearby,” he told NBC 6 South Florida. “I was more concerned with him because he was already making his way onto the road system.”
Mr Stanley told the local station that he didn’t see a reason for the man he believes to have been Mr Haskins to be there. “That’s why it’s just very disturbing. I just didn’t understand the situation.”
Florida Highway Patrol has said that the investigation of the crash is ongoing.
