PALM BEACH COUNTY, Fla. — Two veteran Palm Beach County deputies were tragically killed and a third is fighting for his life after they were hit by a vehicle Thursday on Southern Boulevard near Loxahatchee, the Palm Beach County Sheriff's Office said.
The wreck happened in the 18000 block of Southern Blvd., just west of Seminole Pratt Whitney Road near Lion Country Safari at 9:29 a.m.
Calling it a "horrific accident," Sheriff Ric Bradshaw said at an afternoon news conference that the deputies were conducting traffic enforcement on Southern Boulevard, running radar on vehicles traveling eastbound.
While they were working, one of the deputies had trouble restarting his motorcycle and thought he had a dead battery. This prompted the deputy to call the two other deputies to help him move the bike off the road.
WATCH: Chopper video of deputy-involved crash
"All three of them were on the grassy area of the shoulder of the road, and they were going to wait for another PBSO vehicle to come with some battery cables," Bradshaw said.
At that time, a woman driving eastbound in the center lane came upon a "much slower" vehicle and veered to the right, which was in the same direction as the shoulder of the road where the deputies were located. The Florida Highway Patrol did not identify the driver but said she was a Pennsylvania woman born in 1993.
"She overcompensated, got off the road and then struck all three of the motor officers — at which time all three went airborne in different directions," Bradshaw said.
An officer and deputy who were already headed to the scene before the crash saw the wreck happen and called for assistance. All three deputies were taken St. Mary's Medical Center.
"Unfortunately two of them were deceased, the third one went to surgery and is now in ICU in critical but stable condition," Bradshaw said. "Hopefully he's going to make it."
The sheriff's office identified the two deputies who were killed as Corporal Luis Paez and Deputy Sheriff Ralph "Butch" Waller. The deputy who is fighting for his life in the hospital in critical condition was identified as Deputy Ignacio "Dan" Diaz.
The agency said Paez dedicated over 36 years of his life to law enforcement, beginning his career at PBSO in January 1988 as a Corrections Deputy before moving to Road Patrol, ultimately serving as a motor deputy for more than 20 years.
Waller served with distinction for over 18 years in the agency's motor unit, having started his law enforcement career with the Royal Palm Beach Police Department before it merged with PBSO in October 2008.
Diaz joined PBSO in 2004 and has been with their motor unit for over 10 years.
WATCH: Procession for fallen Palm Beach County deputies
Aerial video showed the three motorcycles and a dark-colored SUV badly smashed up from the incident.
Bradshaw said it doesn't look like the female driver was impaired, and she suffered only minor injuries in the wreck.
"When a deputy dies, a piece of the community dies with them," Bradshaw said. "It's tough."
A procession for the fallen deputies started at approximately 1:45 p.m., during which a motorcycle escort of dozens of law enforcement officers took the deputies' bodies from St. Mary's Medical Center in West Palm Beach to the Palm Beach County Medical Examiner's Office.
Members of the Palm Beach County Sheriff's Office, West Palm Beach Police Department, Palm Beach County Fire Rescue, the Florida Highway Patrol, as well as the color guard, among other agencies, were all involved in the emotional procession.
The motorcade eventually arrived at the Medical Examiner's Office just before 2:10 p.m. as a giant American flag draped from a Palm Beach County Fire Rescue ladder truck flew over Gun Club Road.
WATCH: Procession arrives at Medical Examiner's Office
Hours earlier, all three deputies were flown from the crash scene to St. Mary's Medical Center. One of them remains in critical condition.
The names of the deputies have not been released.
Southern Boulevard was closed to traffic west of Seminole Pratt Whitney Road for hours. However, all east and westbound lanes eventually reopened just before 1:30 p.m.
The Florida Highway Patrol is the lead investigative agency on the crash.
"Please keep our PBSO family in your thoughts and prayers during this devastating time," the sheriff's office said in a post on X.
Bradshaw said they will be planning the funeral arrangements, which would be sometime next week.
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