Trump, DeSantis join thousands to mourn 3 Florida deputies killed in roadside crash
Thousands of people attended a memorial on Tuesday morning in West Palm Beach, Florida, for three Palm Beach Sheriff’s Office deputies who were killed in a crash nearly two weeks ago.
Deputy Sheriff Ignacio “Dan” Diaz, Deputy Sheriff Ralph “Butch” Waller, and Corporal Luis Paez were struck by a Jeep SUV on Nov. 21 while stopped with their motorcycles on the shoulder of Southern Boulevard, just west of Seminole Pratt Whitney Road near Wellington.
Waller and Paez were pronounced dead at the hospital shortly after the crash, while Diaz was in critical condition and underwent surgery at the hospital but later succumbed to his injuries.
President-elect Donald Trump and Gov. Ron DeSantis were in attendance, according to Trump’s deputy director of communications Margo Martin, who posted images on X of DeSantis, Trump and Eric Trump at the memorial.
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“You can train the deputies to deal with bad guys, for traffic stops, high speed chases,” Palm Beach County Sheriff Ric Bradshaw said at a press conference in front of the Fallen Officer’s Memorial Wall at PBSO. “There’s no training for this. They never saw it coming. They never had a chance to try and save themselves.”
More than 7,000 people were expected to attend Tuesday’s memorial, he said.
The public memorial was set to take place at the iTHINK Financial Amphitheater in West Palm Beach. The procession was scheduled to start at 9:30 a.m., followed by an 11 a.m. service, which was expected to end around 2 p.m.
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The three deputies were pulled over to the shoulder on their motorcycles, as one of them appeared to have an issue with his bike, Bradshaw said during a press conference after the crash. A woman driving her SUV down Southern Boulevard came upon a driver who was driving slower than her and veered toward the shoulder to pass but “overcompensated” and struck all three deputies, sending them “airborne,” Bradshaw added.
“People have to take it seriously when you’re driving a vehicle…that’s 2,000 pounds of destruction if it’s not handled properly,” Bradshaw said, adding that the driver is cooperating in the investigation and “feels terrible” about what happened.
Diaz, 51, joined PBSO in 2004 and had been with the agency’s motor unit for more than 10 years, according to the Palm Beach County Sheriff’s Office.
Paez, 58, worked for more than 36 years with PBSO, starting as a corrections deputy in 1988 before transitioning to road patrol and ultimately serving as a motor deputy for more than 20 years.
Waller, 54, worked in the motor unit for more than 18 years, beginning his law enforcement career with the Royal Palm Beach Police Department before it merged with PBSO in October 2008.
“It never gets easier,” Bradshaw said, discussing the nature of speaking to relatives of slain officers. “When you look in their eyes, you see that pain…and I never get used to it.”
The crash is being investigated as a traffic homicide case, Florida Highway Patrol told WPTV.
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It is unclear if any criminal charges will be filed against the woman who crashed into the deputies, but no charges have been filed against her at this time, the outlet reported.
“When a deputy dies, a piece of the community dies with them,” Bradshaw said.