TBO.com - TBO is Tampa Bay Online

Hernando Deputy Dies In Crash

ADVERTISEMENT

By VALERIE KALFRIN and KYLE MARTIN

vkalfrin@tampatrib.com kmartin@hernandotoday.com

Published: February 20, 2009

BROOKSVILLE - A veteran law enforcement officer died in a head-on collision Thursday morning with a 16-year-old driver who once wrote an open letter online cautioning others to be careful when driving.

Hernando County Sheriff's Office Capt. Scott Bierwiler, 42, died about 5:45 a.m. when a 2002 Mitsubishi Montero smashed head-on into his unmarked 1999 Ford Crown Victoria on Powell Road.

The father of three - two daughters and a son - was driving to work. He had supervised the operations bureau, which includes patrol, aviation and canine units, since January 2008.

Sheriff Rich Nugent fought back tears Thursday as he described speaking with Bierwiler's mother and family to offer condolences. He called the captain a "consummate professional."

"This is not how you expect for this to happen," Nugent said. "It's a loss for the community, for the agency and for his family."

The Florida Highway Patrol said Andrew Morris of Weeki Wachee was driving the Mitsubishi, which crossed from the westbound lanes into eastbound traffic.

Morris, a student at nearby Nature Coast Technical High School, was taken to St. Joseph's Hospital in Tampa. Troopers said he was in serious but stable condition.

The highway patrol said Morris' mother owns the Mitsubishi. Investigators were sorting out whether he had permission to use it.
Routine tests were to be conducted to determine whether the accident was alcohol-related.

According to his profile on the online social network MySpace, Morris is an only child who has competed on his school's wrestling and cross-country teams.

In November, he posted an open letter on the page in reference to 10 people he knew who had died. "Listen up, this year has been a very hard year for A LOT of people. The reasons why? Well, everyone is getting into car accidents, drugs are killing them, or suicides," he wrote.

He urged readers to be kind to each other: "Make the world a better place so when it's your time to go people will be like, 'Hey he/she did a great thing for me the other day.'"

Morris also warns his friends to be careful when driving: "When you get in your car to drive somewhere, or to drive someone else somewhere, be aware of your surroundings. Do not have the music too loud, or be messing with your cell phone or iPod. Please, this is important to say that hundreds of people die a year from car crashes. Do not get into a car with someone who has been drinking. Listen, please be careful out there and before someone you love gets severely injured or killed in a car crash or suicide."

'He's A Good Kid'

Morris' neighbor, Linda Peterson, said the teenager was helpful and would do small jobs such as feeding their cat and yard work.

"He's a good kid," she said.

Morris was not wearing a seat belt; the captain was, troopers said.

Deputy Steve Klapka, president of the local Fraternal Order of Police chapter, remembered his longtime friend as a "gentleman's gentleman."

It was Bierwiler who influenced Klapka to move from the Pinellas County Sheriff's Office in 1987 to a budding town called Spring Hill. After a few hours riding patrol with Bierwiler, who was fresh out of training, Klapka was impressed with his positive attitude. "I've been proud to know him from that day forward," a tearful Klapka said.

Bierwiler was well-liked as a supervisor because he never forgot his roots in patrol. In his rise from sergeant to lieutenant to captain, "he treated everyone the same," Klapka said.

Condolences Pour In

Bierwiler's reputation extended beyond Hernando County.

On Thursday, Klapka was fielding calls from police union chapters across Central Florida expressing condolences.

Bierwiler spent the weekend at the Daytona 500 with his 9-year-son, Scottie, Nugent said. Survivors also include his wife, Angie, and daughters, Kayla, 18, and Kiley, 16.

A native of Cold Spring, N.Y., Bierwiler joined the sheriff's office as a deputy in 1986. He was one of a select few law enforcement officers across the country to graduate in 2008 from a three-month class at the FBI Academy in Quantico, Va., sheriff's spokesman Jim Powers said.

He earned several awards in his career, including one for helping to track down a man who shot and killed a New Jersey police officer in 2003.

Many at the sheriff's office felt close to Bierwiler because the new Emergency Operations Center is named for his father, Sgt. Frank Bierwiler, a former public information officer for the agency.

"We've been a family for a long time," Nugent said. Now he "is at rest and is in the arms of his father in heaven."

News Channel 8 reporter Katie Coronado contributed to this report. Tribune reporter Valerie Kalfrin can be reached at (813) 259-7800. Hernando Today reporter Kyle Martin can be reached at (352) 544-5271.

Share this:

Loading Comments...

Email Print

ADVERTISEMENT