GROVELAND, Fla. – A Polk County Sheriff’s Office detention deputy is dead and another person is injured after a three-vehicle crash in Groveland, according to law enforcement.
The crash happened around 11:20 a.m. on State Road 33 north of Double H Lane in Lake County, according to FHP. The sheriff’s office confirmed Thursday the man killed in the crash was 22-year-old Drake Sawyer.
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Troopers said the 22-year-old was driving a Mazda northbound on SR-33 and entered the southbound lanes for an unknown reason and struck the front of a semitruck.
According to troopers, the Mazda then struck a third vehicle being driven by a 34-year-old woman from Clermont.
Note: Due to the information provided, this map depicts the general area of the crash and not necessarily its exact location.
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A 32-year-old man from Duluth, Georgia, driving the semitruck was transported to a local hospital with non-life-threatening injuries.
The 22-year-old was pronounced dead on the scene, troopers said.
Perry was a Central Florida native and he graduated from Olympia High School in Orlando, later attending Polk State College Kenneth C. Thompson Institute for Public Safety in Winter Haven, where he was sponsored by the Polk County Sheriff’s Office, according to sheriff’s officials.
He was the class commander and recognized as “Top Gun” for being the most skillful shooter in his class.
Sheriff Grady Judd, in a statement, expressed that Perry will be missed.
“We are all grieving at the loss of this young deputy who was just starting out in his career. Deputy Perry was an outstanding cadet in the academy, and his classmates and coworkers remember him as always smiling, always positive, and a team player who was always helping others. He was a natural born leader, and aspired to be on the SWAT team. He will be greatly missed. Please keep his family in your prayers.”
Sheriff Grady Judd
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