MIAMI BEACH, Fla. – A fisherman, a motorcyclist and a scooter driver were killed Tuesday morning in a crash that closed the eastbound lanes of the Julia Tuttle Causeway for several hours.
The Florida Highway Patrol said all lanes were reopened about six hours after the crash.
"It's getting crazier and crazier at this time," Maikel Cisneros, who was stranded for hours on the causeway, said.
Debris was scattered across the Interstate 195 bridge that connects Miami to Miami Beach after the fatal crash.
Authorities said the motorcycle, which was being operated by a 32-year-old man from Miami Beach, rear-ended a scooter that was being driven by Erik Lau, 24, of Hialeah.
According to a traffic report, Lau was ejected from the scooter and the motorcyclist crashed into a man who was fishing off the bridge. The motorcyclist was ejected from the motorcycle after crashing into the pedestrian, authorities said.
The motorcyclist and Lau were pronounced dead at the scene. The fisherman, who authorities said was illegally fishing off the bridge, was taken to Jackson Memorial Hospital's Ryder Trauma Center, where he died.
He was identified as Daryl Williams, 30, of Miami Gardens. The motorcyclist's identity has not been released as authorities work to notify relatives.
"I believe that he was in the wrong place at the wrong time, being parked where he shouldn't be and where he should have not have been fishing," FHP Trooper Joe Sanchez said.
The U.S. Coast Guard and members of the Miami-Dade Police Department dive team searched Biscayne Bay for a good part of the morning as a precaution to make sure no one was in the water because of the crash.
FHP troopers are investigating the cause of the crash.
According to the traffic report, alcohol is not believed to have played a factor in the crash, but investigators have not determined whether speed was a factor.