Overview
- A pickup truck struck and crushed the staffed toll booth at the Dunlawton Avenue beach access in Daytona Beach Shores, killing longtime attendant Tammy Jo Baker seconds after she entered the booth on Monday.
- Surveillance and bodycam footage released by the Volusia County Sheriff's Office show Baker entering the booth and being hit about 35 seconds later as the truck continued onto the beach and became stuck in the sand.
- Multiple 911 callers reported an erratic and sometimes wrong-way driver in the area minutes before the crash, and witnesses pulled the driver from the vehicle after it ran into the water.
- The driver, identified as Deanna Harrell, was initially held under Florida’s Baker Act after making self-harm statements, later released, then tracked down and arrested on warrants charging vehicular homicide and DUI manslaughter; she is held without bond.
- Investigators are working with the State Attorney’s Office, awaiting breath and blood test results and warrant returns, the Dunlawton access remains closed, and the community has held memorials and raised funds for Baker’s family.