POMPANO BEACH, Fla. – Teen pop singer Aaron Carter hit a mattress early Thursday on Florida’s Turnpike with his SUV, which then lit on fire, according to the Florida Highway Patrol. No one was seriously injured.
Carter, 17, was driving his 2004 Cadillac Escalade north to Orlando at about 12:30 a.m. when a mattress came loose from the cargo bed of a delivery truck in front of him, said his spokesman, Brad Zeifma.
Carter drove over the mattress, which got stuck under the sport utility vehicle and caught fire, probably from the heat of the exhaust system.
The singer pulled over and escaped the vehicle, then watched it explode in flames, Zeifma said. A friend traveling with him also escaped.
Carter and his friend were treated at the scene.
“Everything happened in such a whirlwind,” Carter said. “It was like the mattress flew out of nowhere. You think you’re invincible when you’re behind the steering wheel of an SUV but you’re not. I’m OK but you can imagine I’m still in shock.”
Carter, the younger brother of Backstreet Boy Nick Carter, arrived in Orlando for the shooting of the cover of his next, “Saturday Night,” due out in March, Zeifma said.
State troopers said the delivery truck never stopped.
