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3rd Palm Beach County Deputy Dies In Month

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The Associated Press

Published: December 30, 2007

BELLE GLADE - Palm Beach County Sheriff's Office personnel on Saturday were mourning the third death in the department in a month, after a car crash Friday that killed a deputy on his day off.

Deputy Timothy R. Crandall, 30, died after being ejected from his sport utility vehicle Friday morning.

The deputy, who worked in Royal Palm Beach, lived in West Palm Beach. A friend said family members thought he had been driving to Belle Glade to get a gift for his wife, Tiffany, for her 26th birthday, which is today.

Crandall's death came a month to the day after two other deputies were killed by a car a few miles away.

On Nov. 28, Palm Beach County sheriff's Deputies Donta Manuel and Jonathan Wallace died when a patrol car struck and killed them as they tried to remove police equipment from a road during a stolen vehicle chase near Pahokee.

The Florida Highway Patrol said Crandall was driving his 1998 Toyota 4-Runner toward Belle Glade on State Road 880 when he crossed the center lane to pass another vehicle. When he returned to his lane, he veered too far and hit a guardrail, sending the SUV into a canal, troopers said.

A helicopter flew Crandall to Delray Medical Center, where he died.

Co-workers said Crandall worked in gang intervention and also counseled at-risk youths. This year, he was awarded a lifesaving medal for rescuing a man from a lake, said Tony Araujo, district commander of the Royal Palm Beach sheriff's station.

Crandall and his wife had returned the night before from visiting family for Christmas in Ocala.

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