Deputy looking at porn on phone hits car stopped for school bus, Florida report says
A deputy was looking at pornographic material on his phone seconds before he crashed into a vehicle stopped for a school bus, a Florida report says.
He resigned under investigation, the Lake County Sheriff’s Office said. McClatchy News reached out to the former deputy for comment Jan. 10 but did not immediately receive a response.
According to an internal affairs report obtained by McClatchy News, a deputy initially lied about the cause of a Nov. 6 crash in Sorrento, but dashcam footage and body-worn camera footage showed he was distracted because he was viewing something on his phone.
The afternoon of the crash, the deputy was driving his patrol car behind a civilian’s Toyota when the Toyota stopped for a school bus that had its stop lights activated in the opposite lane, according to the report.
The deputy didn’t stop in time and rear-ended the other vehicle, video shows. He said his anti-lock braking system light was on, according to the report, and believed his brakes locked and caused him to crash.
But when investigators reviewed footage, they saw he was looking at his phone for at least 15 seconds in the moments right before the crash.
His phone screen appeared to show an image or video, investigators said.
The deputy told investigators he had just gotten off the phone with another deputy and was scrolling through messages in a group chat with his three colleagues, but he wasn’t texting when the crash happened, according to the report.
The detective investigating the incident said he eventually received a copy of the group chat thread, which didn’t contain any images or videos the day of the crash.
The next day, the detective spoke with the deputy, and he admitted he was “looking at inappropriate photos” such as “pornographic material,” the report says.
The deputy said his explanation about the braking system was “more of a deflection than a genuine reason for the crash,” the detective wrote in the report.
Officials determined he had committed three violations: departure from the truth in giving testimony or in connection with any official duties, certain use of electronic handheld devices prohibited and use of safety belt.
The deputy said it had been a particularly hard year at work and at home, the report says.
Lake County is part of the western Orlando metro area.
This story was originally published January 10, 2025 at 2:14 PM with the headline "Deputy looking at porn on phone hits car stopped for school bus, Florida report says."