Hurricane Irma: Deputy, Correctional Officer Killed In Head-On Crash

ZOLFO SPRINGS, FL – A Hardee County Deputy Sheriff and a corrections officer were killed in a two-car wreck early on Sunday, Sept. 10, according to Hardee County Sheriff Arnold Lanier.

“It is with great sadness that we report the line-of-duty death of 42-year-old Hardee County Deputy Sheriff Julie Bridges of Zolfo Springs,” Lanier said. “She died as a result of a two-vehicle, two-fatality car crash involving her patrol car and another vehicle on State Road 66 and Old Crewsville Road in Hardee County.”

The other driver was Sgt. Joseph Ossman of Sebring, who was en route to his job at the Hardee Correctional Institute in Bowling Green, near the Manatee County line.

The wreck occurred at approximately 6:45 a.m. and is being investigated by the Florida Highway Patrol, according to Lanier.

Bridges was a 13-year veteran of the Hardee County Sheriff’s Office. She had been working at an emergency shelter and drove hope to pick up a few items, Lanier said. She was on her way back to the shelter when the wreck happened.

There were no other passengers in either vehicle, according to Lanier.

Main image courtesy of Hardee County Sheriff’s Office Facebook page; secondary image via PBSO - Palm Beach County Sheriff's Office Facebook page