Police investigating fatal Lakeland crash

LAKELAND, Fla. - A 28-year-old man is dead after crashing into the back of a parked semi-truck Sunday morning, according to the Lakeland Police Department. 

Police say before the crash, the semi-truck with a trailer was stopped with its hazard lights activated inside the safety lane near the 2900 block of West Memorial Boulevard around 7:45 a.m.  

At the same time, Devin Robert Henkel was traveling eastbound on West Memorial Boulevard in a 2018 Nissan Frontier truck when, for unknown reasons, he left his lane of traffic and traveled into the safety lane. The Nissan truck struck the stopped semi-truck and became lodged underneath the rear of the trailer.  

The Lakeland Police Department Patrol Unit, Polk County Fire Rescue, and the Lakeland Fire Department responded to the crash and began life-saving measures, but Henkel died at the scene.  The driver of the semi-truck, 60-year-old Ross Allen Green, was not injured as a result of the crash.

The roadway was shut down for about five hours but has since reopened. 

Anyone with information about the crash is asked to contact investigating officer Tyler Anderson at tyler.anderson@lakelandgov.net.