- May 1, 2024
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The day after Tyler Tracy died in a car crash on U.S. 1, north of County Road 304, his brother-in-law Daniel Vitale went to the accident site to erect a memorial, to surprise his sister, and Tyler's wife of 10 weeks, Brianna Vitale Tracy.
Tracy got another surprise a week ago, when a friend texted her at work to tell her someone was taking the memorial items and placing them in a trash bag.
Tyler Tracy’s memorial was one of five collected that afternoon by an FDOT contractor. Another memorial removed was for a friend of Tracy’s, Jaime Hutcherson, who died in an accident further down U.S. 1, three years ago.
“I know his mom and she said ‘my stuff has been there for three years and I went there and it’s not there. What do I do? I want that stuff back it’,” Tracy said . “It was a sprocket made from a motorcycle made for her and cemented in the ground.”
“There should not be a surprise element for the family,” FDOT spokesman Steve Olson said. “A tragedy like this is a loss of a lifetime.”
Olson said FDOT is not a “policing agency” and that removals are complaint driven, whether by individuals, or, as in this case, an FDOT employee who felt the markers were getting too big, and could become a safety issue.
“Four of the five removed that day had state markers so the families could be notified of where the items were if they wanted to pick them up,” Olson said.
Memorials are added to by loved ones and, if nothing is removed, the items multiply and can become a distraction on side of road, and make maintenance difficult.
Tracy’s friend, who took the items from the contractor,said she was told they didn’t call when items were removed, but that a note would be left.
That wasn’t the case for Hutcherson’s mother who Tracy said had no idea what had happened to her son’s memorial.
Tyler’s friends have been meeting her at the site every month since the accident, and she visits with their daughter Emerson regularly. On a recent visit Emerson asked where her daddy’s flowers were.
On Thursday, Feb. 18, seven months after the accident, the monthly meeting became a “ride” from the site, south on U.S. 1, east on Old Dixie Highway, and north on Old Kings Road, and past Flagler Palms Memorial, where Tyler is buried. Tracy was expecting 50 to 60 participants.
“There are more this time because they all drove past and asked “where’s the cross?” Tracy said. “I probably had a 100 calls, ‘what did you do with the cross?’ They want to show everyone that it means something to everybody.”
Tracy said she maintained the site, changing the mulch regularly, trimming bushes around the site, and adding items.
“ It could have been handled way different, and we wouldn’t even have an issue, but it was handled so backwards and ridiculous,” she said.
Olson said this incident has been a learning experience for the department.
“There was a lesson learned here, and we have to improve our soft skills,” Olson said. “From now on we will notify the family up front so there will be no surprises. If they have a state marker we have their information and we can contact them, if not we need to leave a note.”
