Georgia woman dies following New Year's Eve crash in Cocoa Beach
A 70-year-old Georgia woman died from injuries sustained in a violent New Year’s Eve crash along west Cocoa Beach Causeway.
The two-car traffic crash happened about 9 p.m. Sunday along the causeway, not far from Cape Canaveral Hospital, Cocoa Beach reported. A criminal investigation is underway.
The woman killed, identified as Pamela Morrison, 70, of Barney, Georgia, was a passenger in one of the vehicles involved.
“It’s still under investigation,” said Sgt. J. Hughes of the Cocoa Beach Police Department.
Hughes did not release the name of the driver of either car. However, the drivers of both cars suffered injures in the crash. The crash — which blocked a portion of the causeway for several hours — was the result of a rear-end collision, with speed possibly being a factor, police reports show.
The unidentified driver of the vehicle that struck the car the woman was in had interacted with the Brevard County Sheriff's Office minutes after the crash, Hughes said without elaborating.
That driver, Mark Vannicola, was charged with battery on a law enforcement officer after a sheriff's deputy began to question him and asked him to stand, arrest reports show. He was handcuffed and booked into the Brevard County Jail Complex. No other charges were filed in connection with the crash.
More: County's third Christmas Day traffic crash claims life of Indian Harbour Beach man
Paramedics treated the injured, who were transported to area hospitals. Traffic homicide officers sorted through a debris field of metal and glass that stretched several yards.
J.D. Gallop is a criminal justice/breaking news reporter at FLORIDA TODAY. Contact Gallop at 321-917-4641 or jgallop@floridatoday.com. Twitter: @JDGallop.
This article originally appeared on Florida Today: Georgia woman, 70, dies following New Year's Eve crash in Cocoa Beach
