Dangling camper pulled from Interstate 275 overpass

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A traffic crash left a travel trailer dangling precariously from a Pinellas County overpass late this morning, closing a busy stretch of Interstate 275 as emergency crews pondered the safest way to secure it.

The Tracer Air travel trailer came to rest with its back wheels hanging from I-275 over I-175 in downtown St. Petersburg southwest of Tropicana Field.

When St. Pete Fire Rescue crews arrived on the scene, they secured the dangling trailer by tying it to a fire truck, anchoring it from sliding to the ground below.  A wrecker later arrived on the scene and crews used its crane to gently lift the trailer back onto the highway.

According to the Florida Highway Patrol, the camper was being towed northbound on I-275 when, just before 11 a.m., the driver of a Hyundai Elantra drifted out of her lane and into the trailer before spinning out and knocking the trailer into the wall.

The Elantra's driver, identified as 20-year-old Courtney Tierney of New Jersey, was cited for careless driving.

No one was hurt.