SUNRISE, Fla. – The family of a Florida road ranger killed in the line of duty on New Year’s Day is mourning his loss.
A driver struck and killed Jose Parra, 28, as he aided another motorist and Florida Highway Patrol troopers at a crash scene on Interstate 95 near Hollywood Boulevard just after 3:35 Wednesday morning.
5 p.m. report:
Staci Meyers, Parra’s wife of five months, described him as “very family-oriented” in an interview with Local 10 News on Thursday as family members gathered in Sunrise.
“My husband was a very loving person, a super hero, loved to help people,” she said.
Javier Parra, his father, said his family is “very devastated” by what happened.
“He really loved what he (did),” he said.
Parra was pinned in between two FHP cruisers when the driver, a 45-year-old woman from Miami behind the wheel of a BMW X6, veered into his service truck amid a chain reaction crash in the southbound lanes that began with her rear-ending a Honda Accord.
“She was doing about 80 to 100 miles (per hour) from what I’m being told and she hit a car, apparently hit two troopers and hit my husband and she killed an innocent man,” Meyers said.
Two state troopers sustained non-life-threatening injuries.
Parra’s family has set up a GoFundMe page to help cover final expenses.