For Flagler County Sheriff’s deputy Benjamin Stamps, it’s going to be “a fairly long road to recovery” after his motorcycle crash Tuesday morning on I-95, as Stamps was riding the emergency lane to investigate a possible incident ahead that had slowed traffic to a crawl, Sheriff Rick Staly said on Wednesday.
Stamps’s right elbow was shattered, he suffered broken ribs, one of which punctured a lung, and had other scrapes. His helmet, which he was wearing, was damaged enough to suggest that had he not been wearing it, his injuries might have been even more severe than they were. The department-issued motorcycle, a 2020 Harley Davidson, was totaled.
Stamps lives in St. Augustine and was riding to work at 8:30 Tuesday morning, south on I-95. According to the Florida Highway Patrol and Staly, traffic had stopped or slowed. “He thought maybe there was a crash that just occurred, he couldn’t see from his vantage point,” Staly said. Stamps turned on his emergency lights to get to the stoppage, riding on the inside emergency lane. “I don’t know how fast he was going, but I can tell you if he was going very fast, I’d be planning a funeral right now.”
Stamps was approaching one of those median crossovers meant only for emergency vehicles. An 18-year-old man from Jacksonville, driving a compact sedan, was near the crossover. “This driver he was approaching I guess was impatient waiting in traffic and decided abruptly to change lanes and make a U-turn, and basically he made a left turn in front of deputy Stamps,” Staly said. “Deputy stamps attempted to avoid the collision but it was too close and not enough time.” Stamps crashed into the driver’s side door of the blue sedan and was ejected, his body crashing onto the pavement.
The crash occurred at mile marker 314, between State Road 16 and State Road 207. (The intersection with U.S. 1, just north of the St. Johns-Flagler county line, is at marker 298.)
The deputy was transported to Memorial Hospital, a trauma facility in Jacksonville, where he had surgery on Tuesday afternoon. “We expect him to make a recovery, it’s going to be fairly long haul,” Staly said, “a fairly long road to recovery, and there is concern about the elbow because it shattered so badly.”
The sheriff spent time with Stamps in the emergency room the day of the crash. “He was alert and conscious but in a lot of pain, and we joked that there’s an easier way to get a new motorcycle, to get rid of his 2020.” Stamps was one of three deputies who joined the 13-deputy Motors Unit, which consists of eight motorcyclists and five deputies in white Mustangs with limited sheriff’s markings. to become Motor Unit certified, he had to complete a rigorous 80-hour course that, of the 22 candidates who started it in early 2023, only nine completed.
In accordance with the union contract deputies and the agency negotiated, deputies are allowed to take their vehicle (or motorcycle) home, as a privilege, and at no cost as long as they live in Flagler County or within 10 air miles of the county line. Beyond that distance, they may still take the vehicle home but must pay $20 per pay period.
The contract does not specify whether there would be a different cost if the vehicle is a motorcycle, but it does specify that “Employees assigned to specialized units who are currently taking assigned vehicles home outside of the 10 air miles shall continue to do so.” If Stamps lives outside the 10-mile zone (deputies’ home addresses are protected from public disclosure by law), that clause would apply to him, so there was no issue either way regarding his possession of the sheriff’s motorcycle out of county.
A replacement motorcycle would normally cost the Sheriff’s Office $47,000, Staly said, but with insurance defraying some of the cost (the driver of the sedan was insured), the agency is expecting the replacement cost to be lower.
The crash occurred as Bike Week in Daytona Beach had already claimed several lives and caused numerous severe injuries. One of the lives lost was that of a Palm Coast resident, Celia Rosa, whose husband Kenneth was severely injured in the same crash (in DeLand).
“This is a prime example of the importance of ‘look twice, save a life’ which is especially important with Bike Week occurring,” Staly was quoted as saying in a social media post by the agency after the crash. The post also noted the importance of driver awareness, and of helmets. Numerous studies have shown that helmets save lives, though Florida remains a helmet-optional state. (See evidence here, here, here, and here.)
There was some good cheer in the ER as Stamps was getting ready for surgery. “I suggested to his girlfriend,” Staly said, “that while he’s sedated she should go out to get an engagement ring and put it on and tell him when he comes to: ‘I’m so proud that you asked me to marry you,’ and she got a little laugh out of that. His mother was there also. I’m just glad we can have that light-heartedness, because it could have been completely different.”
