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Two Prison Officers Killed in Florida Crash

A Florida prison officer drove his pickup truck down a Union County road the morning of Friday, March 6, 2009, after stabbing his estranged girlfriend.  He caused a head-on collision, which killed him and another corrections officer, according to authorities.

The girlfriend of Donald Lee Bazzell, Jr., a 42-year-old Melrose resident, called 911 pleading for help.  Rebecca Ocker, 26, told a dispatcher that her boyfriend had stabbed her in the neck, head and chest.

When officers arrived at Ocker’s home, she told them that her attacker had fled in a Ford F-150.  Just minutes later, Union County Sheriff Jerry Whitehead said police officers learned about an accident on State Road 231, near SE 71st Trail, south of Lake Butler, which involved the same vehicle described by Ocker.

Bazzell’s pickup truck had smashed into a Florida Department of Corrections van that was transporting correction officers Adam Michael Sanderson, a 32-year-old Gainesville resident and Frederick Dale Jackson, a 41-year-old Lake Butler resident.

Bazzell and Sanderson, who was driving the van, were killed at the scene of the accident, according to the Florida Highway Patrol report.  Jackson was seriously injured in the crash and was flown to an area hospital.

Ocker was taken to Shands at the University of Florida and was listed in stable condition.  She is also an officer at Florida State Prison, the Department of Corrections reported. 

Sanderson and Jackson were participating in a mock escape drill at the Reception and Medical Center.  They were driving back to the prison facility when the accident took place at approximately 9:40 AM, according to reports from Whitehead and troopers.

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