OSCEOLA COUNTY, Fla. – Data retrieved from a sheriff deputy's patrol car shows she may have accelerated before hitting a truck at an intersection, killing the driver.
The crash happened last October at the intersection of Highway 192 and Lindfields Blvd.
Investigators said Osceola County Deputy Gloria Boccio's police cruiser hit an F-150 truck driven by 34-year-old Robert Johnston.
In the moments after the crash, Boccio was heard calling dispatchers, asking them for help.
"I need someone from the Service Center to be en route out here," she told a dispatcher. "I need to talk to them. These brakes. There's no (expletive) brakes on my car just now."
While Johnston's family awaits the findings of a Florida Highway Patrol investigation into the crash, they told News 6 they hired their own investigators to review the data recorders inside Boccio's patrol car and Johnston's truck.
According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, data recorders, or "black boxes," are found in most vehicles on the road made after 2014.
The review was conducted by Quest Engineering and Failure Analysis, and a copy of it was obtained by News 6.
According to the report, inspectors found Johnston's F-150 was braking in the five seconds before the crash, slowing down at the intersection from 16 mph to 2 mph.
In those same five seconds, the report showed the patrol car, driven by Boccio, was accelerating from 48 mph to 50 mph.
It showed the brakes were hit one-tenth of a second before the crash with Johnston's truck.
It also shows there was no mechanical issue with the brakes.
New pictures contained in the report showed the hood of Boccio's patrol car was almost bent in half by the impact.
Pictures of Johnston's truck show the back end and the bed of the truck were caved in.
Brian Johnston, the victim's brother, told News 6 he's outraged at what inspectors found.
"If the black box indicates she was accelerating until impact, then why was she on a recorded line moments later saying her brakes hadn't been working?" he asked. "It seems that every answer we get about this whole situation leads to countless more questions, none of which have been answered by the sheriff."
Osceola County Sheriff Russ Gibson went on record with News 6 in January about the investigation into the crash involving Boccio.
He said he wanted to get to the bottom of what happened.
"Nothing that we do is going to be able to bring that young man back," he said. "Again, that's heart-wrenching. It's heart-wrenching for me, it's heart-wrenching for Deputy Boccio, and more than anything, it's heart-wrenching for that family."
The sheriff's office had no comment on the findings contained in the report.
Florida Highway Patrol spokeswoman Kim Montes said the crash is still under investigation.
Boccio remains on paid leave.
