FHP: Mid-Bay Bridge crash victim alive?

A crash initially reported as fatal may not have been so, the FHP said Wednesday.

"There was a little confusion last night whether he (the victim) was confirmed deceased or not," said FHP Lt. Ken Salter, after calling a trooper who was at the scene.

"At this point, we don't know if he's dead or not."

The crash happened just before 9 p.m. Tuesday at the north end of the Mid-Bay Bridge in Bluewater Bay. It shut down the bridge.

The FHP has identified a passenger who survived with serious injuries: 38-year-old William Pugh of Crestview. He was taken to Sacred Heart in Pensacola.

But the driver's state still is unclear. He was driving a 2008 Mercedes at a high speed through the bridge's toll both before the car left the road off a left-hand curve and hit a tree and a utility pole, according to an FHP crash report.

The car landed on its roof; the utility pole landed across the southbound lanes, a trooper said Tuesday night.

The driver was being treated at Twin Cities Hospital in Niceville, Salter said.

Neither person was wearing a seatbelt and the crash was alcohol-related, the FHP reported.

Salter said rescuers who had been performing CPR on the driver at the scene believed he was deceased, but a doctor never signed a certificate. The FHP still does not have his name.