Christopher Ponce

A Wesley Chapel man is dead following a head-on collision on I-275 near downtown Tampa that closed all northbound lanes of the interstate for several hours.

According to the Florida Highway Patrol (FHP), just before 3 a.m. on July 19, William Brooks Angel, 20, of Wesley Chapel, was driving north on I-275 in his 2000 Ford Mustang with two passengers when he was hit head-on by another vehicle going the wrong way, just south of the I-4 interchange near downtown. Angel was pronounced dead at the scene.

His two passengers, Jay Davis, 20, also of Wesley Chapel, and Robert Patrick Newberry, 20, of Lutz, both sustained serious injuries and were transported to St. Joseph’s Hospital on Martin Luther King, Jr. Blvd. No one in the vehicle was wearing a seatbelt.

The report released by FHP says that the vehicle that was traveling north in the southbound lanes that caused the accident was a 2012 Ford Fusion driven by Christopher Ponce of Tampa. Ponce also sustained injuries and was transported to Tampa General Hospital in downtown Tampa.

Traffic was shutdown for all northbound lanes of I-275 until 6:45 a.m. on July 19 and was diverted to Ashley Dr.

FHP says that Ponce has been charged with DUI manslaughter, vehicular manslaughter, two counts of reckless driving with serious bodily injury and two counts of DUI with serious bodily injury. He is being held at the Orient Rd. Jail without bond. The accident is still under investigation.