One detail can change your life in a second, and that is exactly what happened to Cassi Taylor, who was driving her Toyota Tacoma around midnight near Titusville, Florida.
Shortly before midnight on Sunday, August 30, an alligator crossed the southbound lanes of I-95, south of State Road 50.
A 58-year-old man from Canada saw something crossing in the middle of the road. It was an alligator, and although he tried to avoid it, it was already too late. He hit it head-on, and the animal died instantly, but it would not be the only victim.
“I wonder how it got there”, said Ronnie Stacy, another traveler passing through the area.
Cassi, who was driving behind him, saw the crash and swerved to avoid hitting the vehicle that had just struck the alligator, but she lost control and rolled over. That was when an easily avoidable mistake completely changed the outcome.
The young woman was not wearing her seat belt and was ejected from the vehicle, landing in the center lane. Seconds later, a third car hit her. Its driver continued on without stopping and, to this day, has not been identified.
Cassi died at the scene. She was only 20 years old and was beginning a new stage of her life: one month earlier, she had followed in her father Officer Scott Burke’s footsteps and had begun working as a civilian corrections assistant at the Indian River County Sheriff’s Office. The following Monday, she was due to be sworn in to her new position.
An alligator in the middle of a highway is highly unlikely and set off a chain of unfortunate events. But in the end, it was a much more everyday detail that could have changed the story: wearing a seat belt.