HILLSBOROUGH COUNTY, Fla. — An off-duty Hillsborough County Sheriff's deputy died following a collision with a flatbed tractor-trailer truck on U.S. 301 Thursday morning.
The Florida Highway Patrol said the detention deputy was driving in his F-150 and collided with the tractor-trailer south of McIntosh Road.
Hillsborough County Sheriff Chad Chronister said Deputy Derell Brown, 40, was likely killed instantly following the collision.
Sheriff Chronister said Deputy Brown was on his way from his shift at the Orient Road Jail when he crossed into the other lane and into the path of the tractor-trailer truck.
"For some reason, we don't know why yet, he crossed into the oncoming lane of a tractor trailer, the driver hit his breaks and did everything he could to try and avoid the collision and was unable to," said Sheriff Chronister.
"The energy of this truck striking the deputy's personal vehicle, almost head-on, propelled him in a circular motion," Chronister said. "His (the deputy's) car came to rest almost 100 yards north of where the tractor-trailer came to rest."
FHP said the 32-year-old driver of the tractor-trailer truck suffered no injuries.
All lanes of U.S. 301 reopened around 5 p.m. Thursday after being closed for more than 8 hours.
Colleague Domingo Gonzalez knew Deputy Brown as a member of the Hillsborough Sheriff's Office Honor Guard. He said Deputy Brown had a heart of gold and a personality that lit up a room.
"He was passionate about his faith, his job, helping those that he was looking over in the jail. He loved playing kickball with his co-workers and he thought he was Michael Jordan on the basketball court. But his first and most important love were his children and he loved bragging about," said Gonzalez in a text message to ABC Action News.
Sheriff Chronister said Deputy Brown was married and had a blended family with five children ages 5 to 20.
He had worked with the Sheriff's office for nearly a decade.
Investigative Reporter Katie LaGrone obtained the most recent batch of Florida teacher exit interviews which detail, in their own words, why teachers left the classroom this summer.
