POLK COUNTY, Fla. — Standall Brooks had made it his mission to restore and improve an aging motel in Winter Haven.
That’s what he was doing Saturday afternoon when he was killed in a crash that his fiancée, Neechelle Hollis, said still seems unreal.
“I keep trying to tell myself that this is a nightmare, and I’m going to wake up from it,” she said. “The only thing I could do was scream.”
Brooks was hit and killed when a driver plowed into the front office of the Economy Inn Suites, which is located beside a busy stretch of Cypress Gardens Boulevard.
According to Hollis and other family members, Brooks spent the morning repairing several air conditioning units. Finished with that work, he began cleaning the windows of the front office.
Family members say around 4:20 p.m. Saturday, the driver of a Ford Focus veered off Cypress Gardens Boulevard, traveled up a grassy hill, and crashed into the motel's front office.
They said Brooks, who was working outside, was hit directly and landed inside the motel, where they believe he died immediately.
Family members, including his fiancée, were nearby, but at the time of the crash, they were unaware that Brooks had been cleaning the windows and had been hit.
“I should have been there holding his hand,” Hollis said tearfully. “I should have been there.”
Monday afternoon, in an interview with ABC Action News, Hollis and other family members remembered Brooks — who was nicknamed Dale — as a hard-working man who provided for his family, was quick to help strangers, and inspired his fiancée and sons daily.
“I know without him, I probably wouldn’t be half the man I am today,” said one of his two teenage sons, Malachi Hollis.
His other son, Ne’Montay Hollis, said he’s now determined to graduate high school in honor of his late father.
“I’ve got to, and I’m going to do it with only A’s and B’s too — just for Dale,” he said. “I would say he means everything to me, but it’s deeper than that.”
Brooks’ family members also requested the interview as an avenue to express their frustration.
The Polk County Sheriff’s Office has said the 29-year-old driver who hit Brooks may have suffered from a medical emergency, which caused the crash.
Hollis, however, has her doubts.
“There is no medical condition that you can have, to me, that would justify what you’ve done,” she said. “If you hop into that car knowing that there’s a possibility that you could kill somebody else, then you should be held fully accountable.”
She and other family members believe Brooks deserves justice.
“We are suffering. I suffer. I cry. I don’t even know I’m going to get by or how I’m going to — I don’t know how I’m going to make it because that was my rock,” Hollis said. “And it’s not making it financially. It’s I don’t know how I’m going to make it because he was my inspiration.”
The sheriff’s office continues to investigate the crash.
Monday, a spokesperson for the department said the driver who hit Brooks has been cooperative, did consent to a blood test, and does have a medical history. He also said the investigation could take several months.
