Florida Keys motorcyclist in critical condition following crash

A Florida Keys man was hospitalized with serious injuries after a car hit him as he sat on his motorcycle waiting to make a turn Monday night, according to the Florida Highway Patrol.

The 62-year-old man, who the FHP did not name, was stopped in the center turn lane of U.S. 1 on Big Pine Key around 6:35 p.m. waiting to drive into the Big Pine Village shopping center, when the crash happened, the FHP said.

A 32-year-old woman driving a 2018 Toyota SUV told troopers she did not see the man stopped when she accelerated as she left the Big Pine Academy school on Deer Run Trail, turning south on U.S 1. Her car hit the right side of the motorcycle, knocking him to the ground on his back, said troopers, adding he was not wearing a helmet.

Troopers also did not name the driver of the Toyota, saying only that she lives on Little Torch Key.

The man, who the FHP says lives on Big Pine Key, was flown by helicopter ambulance to Jackson South Medical Center in Kendall to be treated for critical injuries, according to the press release.

“Charges are pending the investigation,” the FHP said in the release.

David Goodhue covers the Florida Keys and South Florida for FLKeysNews.com and the Miami Herald. Before joining the Herald, he covered Congress, the Environmental Protection Agency and the Department of Energy in Washington, D.C. He is a graduate of the University of Delaware.