An off-duty 45-year-old deputy died when his motorcycle was hit by a car in Oakland Park at about 12:30 p.m. Sunday, the Broward Sheriff’s Office said.
Deputy John Blackwelder, a nine-year veteran with the BSO, was pronounced dead on the scene by paramedics at 12:38 p.m., the BSO said.
Blackwelder was heading west on East Commercial Boulevard on his 2010 Honda café-style motorcycle when a 2004 Cadillac heading east made a lefthand turn into his path at NE 3rd Avenue, the Sheriff's Office said.
The driver of the car, 75-year-old Stajka Vangov, sobbed as she said, "I'm so shocked to kill man."
The Serbian native said she was on her way home from church and thought she had enough time to turn in front of the motorcycle.
"I'm really sorry ... I don't mean to do that," Vangov said. "I wish I never get out of house today."
Blackwelder collided with the Cadillac's right rear passenger door and fell onto the road. He was wearing a helmet, the BSO said.
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Blackwelder has two children. He first worked for the BSO from August 2000 to July 2007, and then was rehired in Jan. 2010. He was assigned to the Pompano Beach District.
"We're just like any other family," BSO spokeswoman Veda Coleman-Wright said. "It hurts, it hurts."
The accident remains under investigation.
