Haines City, FL — June 9, 2026 — An off-duty Polk County Sheriff’s Office detention deputy was fatally injured Tuesday night in a two-vehicle crash on Interstate 4 in Haines City, according to the Polk County Sheriff’s Office.
Jonathan Morales Pabon, 32, was riding as a passenger in a Nissan Rogue operated by a 21-year-old Lake Wales woman traveling eastbound on Interstate 4 at approximately 10:30 p.m. Authorities say the driver suddenly braked and cut across several lanes of traffic in a rapid attempt to exit the interstate. The abrupt maneuver caused the Nissan to collide with a Ford F-350 that was also traveling eastbound in the far right lane.
Pabon sustained fatal injuries in the crash and was pronounced dead. The driver of the Nissan Rogue sustained minor injuries, and the driver of the Ford F-350 was uninjured.
A New York native, Pabon served with the Florida Department of Corrections from 2018 to 2021 before being hired as a detention deputy with the Polk County Sheriff’s Office in 2021. He was assigned to the South County Jail in Frostproof at the time of his death.
Polk County Sheriff Grady Judd paid tribute to the fallen deputy in a public statement. “We are all grieving at the loss of this great young deputy who has well and faithfully served with our agency for the past five years and was a public servant for several years prior to that,” Judd wrote. “He will be greatly missed. Please keep his family in your prayers.”
