FLAGLER COUNTY, Fla. -- A Flagler County Sheriff's deputy was fired Monday after an internal investigation determined he failed to prevent a deadly wrong-way crash on Interstate 95.

  • Deputy fired after failing to prevent fatal I-95 crash
  • Allegedly went to medical call, even though units already arrived
  • Wrong-way driver dies after head-on collision

The investigation at the Sheriff's Office began after the fatal Palm Coast crash occurred on I-95 in the early morning hours of April 16.

The Sheriff's Office said Deputy Robert Finn was dispatched to a medical call in Palm Coast as a back-up unit, but GPS records indicated that his response was delayed 4 minutes after acknowledging the call.

When Finn exited I-95 onto Palm Coast Parkway, investigators said he encountered a wrong-way driver, Wendell Parker, in the southbound exit ramp, and had to swerve to avoid a crash. 

Finn continued on to the medical call, even though another deputy and medical units had already arrived at the scene, the Sheriff's Office said. Finn told deputies he didn't stop the vehicle because he thought he saw Parker turn around and go the correct way. 

Several minutes later, the Sheriff's Office received a call about a head-on collision on I-95. The crash killed Parker, and the driver of the other vehicle he hit sustained serious injuries.

“While we will never know with certainty if Deputy R. Finn could have changed the sequence of events and prevented this crash by attempting to stop the vehicle, we do know that as a law enforcement officer it was his duty to take immediate action, and he failed to do so," Undersheriff Jack Bisland said in the release.

Finn had worked at the Sheriff's Office since 2011.