MIAMI — Three people died and eight were injured in a crash that happened after a motorist in a Cadillac Escalade hit a bear and stopped along a two-lane road in the Florida Everglades.

Seminole police spokesman Gary Bitner said that people traveling in a second vehicle Sunday evening had stopped to help when a third vehicle plowed into them. The bear also died. “Three people from a second vehicle got out and tried to help and all were struck and killed by a third vehicle,” Bitner said.

“We’ve never had an accident involving a black bear,” Bitner noted. “There are black bears throughout Florida and this is in the Everglades, so there absolutely are black bears in that area.”

Bitner said the crash happened on the Big Cypress Seminole Reservation. He said the crash occurred north of Interstate 75, also known as Alligator Alley.

Encounters with bears in Florida are reported sporadically. Last week, wildlife authorities in central Florida said they captured and killed a bear that was suspected of biting a woman on the arm as she walked her dog.