ORLANDO, Fla. — A woman fell off an Interstate 4 overpass and died Friday morning after she had gotten out of her car after a crash and an oncoming car hit the vehicles in the initial crash, police say.

  • Orlando Police: Woman got out of vehicle after crash on I-4
  • Victim thrown over I-4 overpass, pronounced dead at ORMC
  • Police: You're required to move cars in a crash if they're operable

Orlando Police investigators think the woman's vehicle had been involved in a two-car crash at about 9 a.m., and she pulled over. Because of that initial crash, several people had gotten out of their vehicles.

Shortly after, an oncoming car on the interstate struck one of the vehicles in the initial crash, and the woman was somehow thrown off the overpass, Orlando Police Sgt. David Baker said.

Two lanes of eastbound I-4 were shut down near Central Boulevard into the afternoon for the traffic investigation.

The woman fell onto the intersection of Garland Avenue and Central Boulevard. She was taken to Orlando Regional Medical Center as a trauma alert but was pronounced dead when she arrived at the hospital, he said.

Her identity has not been released.

If you're in a crash, "our advice is to remain inside the vehicle," Baker said. "At least you have some protection or stand behind some hard cover for protection. You have to really take your safety into paramount concern. Standing and walking around in a roadway is never a safe situation."

It's undetermined at this time how many cars were involved in the first crash. Orlando Police is the lead agency investigating the incident.

Baker said in a crash situation in which the vehicles are still operable, you must move your vehicles out of the right of way. 

"Under Florida state law, if your vehicle is operable, you're required to remove your vehicle from the roadway. It's unlawful to stay on the roadway if your vehicle is operable. Move your vehicles off the roadway, even if you have to coordinate with the other drivers."

He said he wasn't aware whether this played a part in Friday's crash, but he wanted to inform the public about the law.

"You don't necessarily have to leave your cars on scene for the police officers to figure out what happened," Baker said. "We can look at damage to vehicles, we can talk to drivers, we can talk to witnesses, we can figure out what happened. So you don't need to leave your cars on the roadway in order for us to investigate our crash. It creates a dangerous hazard, as unfortunately we've seen by today's incident."