A teen-age driver died in a traffic crash this morning near the 400 block of Nicholas Parkway.

Cape Coral Police Department officials identified him Zaldeen T. Saleem, 18.

According to a CCPD release, the crash occurred after Salem was not able to negotiate the curve that shifts westbound traffic to a northwest direction at the 500 block of Nicholas Parkway East while traveling in the inside straight lane. His vehicle crossed the median and struck a metal signpost, another car, and then a cement pole near the base, snapping it off.

Due to the lowered utility line, police said a vehicle traveling west along Nicholas Parkway East had its engine hood snagged by the utility line, causing the hood to be sliced open with the upper painted metal surface, split from the lower half that serves as a lid for the engine compartment. The driver stopped the vehicle in the inside westbound straight lane on Nicholas Parkway at Southeast 4th Avenue.

Saleem was pronounced dead at the scene by Cape Coral Fire Rescue.

A front-seat passenger in the car sustained non-life threatening injuries, police said, adding the passenger was transported to a hospital and is in stable condition.

The crash in not alcohol or drug related, CCPD officials said, but speed was a factor.

This is the fifth traffic fatality in the Cape this year thus far.

CCPD asks anyone who witnessed the crash or has information, to contact the department by calling 239-574-3223 or submitting a tip to CCPDtips@capecoral.gov. Anonymous tips can be submitted by calling Crime Stoppers at 1-800-780-TIPS using Case Report #24-006611.