A South Florida nurse charged with killing three PBSO motorcycle deputies in a 2024 crash appeared to be “extremely tired” and driving aggressively while on her way home from an overnight shift, witnesses told investigators according to a probable cause affidavit.
Corrinne Adrianna Blue, 32, was arrested Thursday on three counts of vehicular homicide over a year after the Nov. 21, 2024 crash that killed Cpl. Luis Paez Jr., 58, Deputy Ralph “Butch” Waller, 54, and Deputy Ignacio “Dan” Diaz, 51.
Florida Highway Patrol investigated the crash and made the arrest.
A little after 8 a.m. on the morning of the crash, the three PBSO deputies had stopped with their motorcycles on the shoulder of State Road 80, about a half-mile west of Lion Country Safari Road, according to the affidavit. They were waiting for help because one of the deputies couldn’t get his motorcycle started.
Meanwhile, Blue had just finished a 7 p.m. to 7 a.m. shift at the Cleveland Clinic in Weston, according to the affidavit, and was on her way to West Palm Beach. Though she had worked the overnight shift regularly, she told investigators that it had been her first night working in the emergency room. She left work at 8 a.m. and stopped at a McDonald’s in Belle Glade for some food before continuing on her way.
As Blue approached the deputies along State Road 80, which has a speed limit of 55 miles per hour, witnesses’ accounts and video footage showed that she was driving aggressively, tailgating and zigzagging between cars, according to the affidavit. Data from her car showed that her speed reached between 76 and 85 miles per hour about the time of the crash.
Seconds before the crash, Blue changed into the rightmost lane, adjacent to the stopped deputies, according to the affidavit. As the car in front of Blue approached the deputies, it slowed down, according to the affidavit. Blue, who was speeding, also braked, but told investigators that she felt she was too close to avoid a collision. She then swerved, crashing into the three deputies. Blue said she had not seen the deputies prior to the crash.
When Blue spoke to investigators, she said she was not tired or rushed during her drive, but mulitple other witnesses said she appeared exhausted, according to the affidavit. One driver who stopped to help after the crash said she seemed “extremely tired.”
Cellphone data showed that Blue had been awake for 18 of the 24 hours prior to the crash. FHP investigators also spoke to a neurologist, who determined that Blue had not adequately slept prior to the crash and theorized that the fast-food meal she had eaten might have exacerbated her fatigue by putting her in a state of “brain fog,” the affidavit states.
Investigators concluded that a combination of factors, including Blue speeding, “following other vehicles too closely, aggressively tailgating slower moving vehicles, rapidly changing lanes” and “operating her vehicle in a possible fatigued state,” provided sufficient probable cause to charge her with vehicular homicide.
Blue had her first appearance Friday morning, where a judge set her bond at $750,000. A judge ordered that she cannot drive or travel outside of Palm Beach County.
