Left: Aaron Wells. Right: Police County Sheriff Grady Judd and Sgt. Dan Cooley, right (Polk County Sheriff’s Office).
A Florida man driving a Jaguar was drunk when he hit and killed a retired sheriff’s deputy who was trying to pick up a large tote that had fallen into the road from his vehicle, authorities say.
It happened around 7:40 p.m. Monday on Van Fleet Drive in Bartow. According to the Polk County Sheriff’s Office, retired Sgt. Dan Cooley, 69, was driving when a plastic storage container fell from his vehicle along with the items that were inside. Cooley pulled over, turned on his hazard lights and went to go retrieve the container which was in the middle lane.
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As Cooley picked up the container and other items, 50-year-old Aaron Wells was driving his 2008 Jaguar S-Type westward in the middle lane of Van Fleet Drive with an 11-year-old girl in the car, a probable cause arrest affidavit said. Wells allegedly struck Cooley, who went over the hood and onto the windshield before he was thrown onto the road. Paramedics rushed Cooley to the hospital but lifesaving efforts failed and doctors pronounced him dead.
Wells remained on scene and deputies said they could smell booze on his breath. He also had slurred speech and watery eyes, cops noted. Deputies took Wells to the sheriff’s processing center where he “attempted to manipulate the breath alcohol test by not providing ample breath.” Still, his blood alcohol samples were .092 and .105, the affidavit said. The legal limit is .08. He allegedly admitted to drinking “several beers” before getting behind the wheel.
The defendant stands accused of DUI manslaughter and negligent child abuse. He remained at the Polk County Jail as of Wednesday afternoon. The girl in his car was not hurt and said there was a glare from the setting sun at the time of the crash.
“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,” Sheriff Grady Judd said in a statement. “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 joined the agency as a jail deputy in 1986. He was promoted to a sergeant in 2002 and retired in 2007.
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