By Police1 Staff
FORT MYERS, Fla. — A Lee County sheriff’s deputy died in custody after being asked to leave a bar for unruly behavior, Naples News reported.
Willard “Truck” Truckenmiller died May 3 — his 32nd birthday.
“They cut him off. He becomes upset because they’d no longer service him, and he becomes unruly,” Scott Moorey, an attorney for the bar, told the publication.
The bar staff locked the doors and called the non-emergency police number.
“No one was trying to get him in trouble,” Moorey said. “They were concerned for him, but because of his actions, they felt one of his fellow deputies should come and calm him down.”
Truckenmiller was taken into custody after “he continued to be disorderly.” A conscious Truckenmiller was put into an ambulance and taken to a hospital, where he died.
“I can only speculate that the deputies thought he was having some medical event,” Moorey said. “I think everybody would like to know what happened, whether it was a heart attack or what sort of medical event it was.”
Truckenmiller was a regular at the bar. The staff and other community members were saddened by the loss.
Truckenmiller was also a volunteer football coach at a high school and leaves behind two children. A fellow coach started a GoFundMe for his children. The campaign has raised $3,000 in six days.