Cassi Taylor, the daughter of an Indian River County sheriff's deputy, was killed just before midnight Sunday when an alligator on a Florida interstate set off a chain-reaction crash, hours before she was to be sworn in as a law enforcement official.
Taylor, 20, was driving her Toyota Tacoma pickup on I-95 in Titusville, Florida, when a 58-year-old Canadian driver ahead of her struck an alligator in the roadway. Taylor swerved to avoid the Mercedes and lost control. Her truck overturned, and she was ejected onto the highway. A second driver then struck Taylor as she lay in the road, and fled the scene, the New York Post reported.
Taylor was pronounced dead at the scene. The alligator was also killed. Investigators said Taylor was not wearing a seatbelt at the time of the crash.
The Canadian driver of the Mercedes was not injured and stayed at the scene. The Florida Highway Patrol confirmed it is still searching for the hit-and-run driver who struck Taylor and fled.
Taylor had joined the Indian River County Sheriff's Office as a civilian corrections assistant a little over a month before her death. Her formal swearing-in ceremony had been scheduled for Monday, just hours after the crash that took her life. She never got to take the oath.
Her father, Scott Burke, serves as a deputy with the same agency. The sheriff's office posted on Facebook Tuesday:
"We are saddened to share the news of the death of one of our newest team members."
A native of Jasper, Florida, Taylor had chosen to follow her father into law enforcement. Friends who organized a GoFundMe fundraiser described her as "an amazing young lady with a heart of pure gold who will dearly be missed."
The Florida Highway Patrol confirmed the crash sequence: the alligator wandered onto I-95, the Mercedes struck it, and Taylor swerved to avoid the disabled vehicle. After her truck rolled and she was thrown from it, an unknown driver hit her and kept going.
Troopers have not named a suspect or described the vehicle involved in the hit-and-run. No charges have been announced. The investigation remains open.
The crash underscores a grim reality of Florida's highways. Alligators crossing roads are not uncommon in the state, but a sequence this deadly, an animal strike, a rollover, and a hit-and-run all within moments, is rare even by Florida standards.
Taylor was twenty years old, just starting a career in public safety, following a father who already wore the badge. Whoever struck her and drove away owes her family, her colleagues, and the law an answer. The Florida Highway Patrol should make sure they get one.
