An allegedly drunk driver was arrested Monday night after he was accused to ramming his Jaguar into a retired sheriff’s deputy who was picking debris up from the roadway.
Former Polk County Sheriff’s Office Sgt. Dan Cooley, 69, stopped and turned on his hazard lights after a tote fell off his vehicle into the center lane of Van Fleet Drive in Bartow. He was clearing the hazard from the streeet’s center lane when Aaron Wells, 50, slammed into him.
Medics arrived and rushed Cooley to Bartow Regional Medical Center, where he was resuscitated several times but ultimately did not survive.
The Polk County Sheriff’s Office said that responding deputies could smell alcohol on Wells, “who also had slurred speech and watery eyes. He “displayed signs of impairment” during field sobriety tests and later tried to manipulate a breath alcohol test. He still blew samples at .092 and .105, above the legal threshold of .08, and told deputies he’d had several beers before he got behind the wheel.
An 11-year-old girl was also in Wells’ car and was not physically injured.
Wells was charged with DUI manslaughter and negligent child abuse.
“Sergeant Dan Cooley was a public servant for over 20 years, and had been enjoying retirement for nearly as long, when he was tragically and senselessly struck and killed by an impaired motorist,” Police County Sheriff Grady Judd said. “The driver clearly has no regard for human life – not only choosing to get behind the wheel drunk, but doing so with a child in the car. Our prayers are with Dan Cooley’s family and loved ones.”
Cooley was hired as a detention deputy in 1986 and promoted to sergeant in 2002. He retired in 2007.
