By Eric Pera
The Lakeland Ledger
BARTOW, Fla. — The car crash last month in Haines City in which a Davenport woman was killed marked the second traffic fatality in five years involving veteran Polk County sheriff’s Deputy William Schob.
An investigation is ongoing into the May 15 accident on U.S. 27 that left Moni Kurian, 63, dead and her husband, Puleekunnil Kurian, 70, seriously injured.
According to sheriff’s officials, the couple turned into Schob’s path as he was rushing to the scene of a hit-and-run accident.
In the previous accident, on April 10, 2005, Schob, 39, struck and killed a pedestrian on County Road 630 near Frostproof.
He was cleared of any wrongdoing, according to a sheriff’s spokeswoman.
In both instances, the Sheriff’s Office handled the investigation, which is its policy and the policy of many law enforcement agencies, including the Florida Highway Patrol.
There’s nothing unusual about law enforcement agencies’ policing their own when dealing with traffic fatalities, said Capt. Mark Welch, chief of public affairs for FHP.
The FHP routinely conducts independent investigations of traffic accidents involving law enforcement officers, but only when invited to do so, he said.
“That’s going to be up to the individual law enforcement agency,” Welch said. “We offer our services to any agency, regardless of what the injuries are. We’ve investigated our own patrol car crashes since we’ve been around.”
All investigations of traffic mishaps involving Polk sheriff’s personnel are reviewed by an internal board whose members include the traffic unit sergeant and other personnel, said sheriff’s spokeswoman Donna Wood.
The board can recommend discipline as well, she said.
“We’re held to a higher standard,” Wood said. “The community needs to put its trust in us.”
The State Attorney’s Office in Polk adds additional scrutiny by reviewing traffic death investigations, said spokesman Chip Thullbery.
In the Kurians’ accident, it may be months before investigators sort out the details, Wood said.
The couple was traveling south on U.S. 27 in a 2004 Jeep Cherokee, when, according to sheriff’s officials, they turned east near Citrus Ridge Drive and into the path of Schob’s northbound patrol car. The patrol car struck the Jeep on the passenger side.
The Kurians had only minutes earlier left a Kissimmee church where Puleekunnil Kurian serves as pastor, relatives said. They were headed home to celebrate his 70th birthday.
Instead, with his wife pronounced dead at the scene, Kurian was taken to Heart of Florida Regional Medical Center in Haines City, then transported the next day to Orlando Regional Medical Center, where he remains.
The accident happened about 10:20 p.m. while Schob was responding to a report of a hit-and-run incident, his emergency lights flashing and siren wailing, officials said.
Nearly 30 minutes earlier, Ean Holdings of Tulsa, Okla., had been driving a 2010 Dodge south on Lake Wilson Road east of Loughman when he was struck while changing lanes by a 2002 Dodge SUV going in the same direction, Wood said.
The SUV’s driver continued southbound, crossing the northbound lanes and striking a telephone pole, she said.
Witnesses reported the driver, who was alone in the SUV, fled on foot. Investigators are looking for two suspects: Seiul Alejandro and Carlos E De La Fuente of Altamonte Springs, the registered owner of the SUV.
Wood said it’s unclear which of the two men might have been driving. The SUV’s license tag was stolen, she said.
Schob was put on paid administrative leave May 16-28, though the investigation into his collision with the Kurians is ongoing.
It was his sixth traffic accident since joining the force in 1998.
Three of those accidents were relatively minor, though investigators determined two to be preventable. Schob was counseled on traffic safety and assessed points on his driver license.
In August the deputy struck a cow while traveling west on State Road 60. The early morning crash was classified as non-preventable, Wood said, and Schob’s patrol car sustained $144 in damage to the driver’s side mirror and spotlight.
The accident involving the pedestrian occurred about 11:20 p.m. on April 10, 2005, when Schob responded to a report of an intoxicated man walking along a lone, dark stretch of County Road 630 near Silver Sand Road.
Witnesses reported that the man, dressed in dark clothing and carrying a backpack, had been walking north in the center of the road. A couple on their way home from a family outing said that between 10:45 and 11 that evening they had to veer off the road to avoid hitting him. They stopped for several minutes to talk to the man, who asked for a ride.
The couple declined, telling investigators they had two children with them and didn’t want to put them in jeopardy. Later, they alerted law enforcement.
The pedestrian was just south of Silver Sand Road when he was hit by Schob, who was southbound on CR 630.
“Schob reports that he never saw (the pedestrian) in the roadway, and that he only heard a loud noise upon impact,” a sheriff’s report said.
A copy of the final report by the sheriff’s traffic review board wasn’t immediately available, Wood said, because files are being transported to the agency’s new headquarters. Because the case is more than 5 years old there’s also a chance that the report has been destroyed, she said. Schob was placed on paid administrative leave April 13-17, 2005. Investigators determined he was not at fault, Wood said.
An autopsy report identified the victim as Delmar Morales, 24, based on identification found on his body. But his identity remains a bit of a mystery as he did not match the picture identification found in his possession.
“We never had a family member step forward” to claim the man’s remains, Wood said.
According to the report, Morales died of blunt impact. A toxicology test revealed amounts of alcohol, marijuana and cocaine in his body, sheriff’s records show.
Copyright 2010 Lakeland Ledger Publishing Corporation