A Florida widow says the people who promised to protect her husband are the ones who killed him.
And now, according to investigative reporter Adam Walser, she’s suing to make sure it doesn’t happen to anyone else.
In a report for Tampa Bay 28, I-Team investigator Adam Walser explains that Pamela Martin is suing the Hillsborough County Sheriff’s Office, accusing a deputy of driving 97 miles per hour without lights or siren when he slammed into her husband’s truck and ended his life.
Walser says the crash happened back in February 2021, but the legal battle is only now heading to trial.
A Veteran, A Careful Driver, And One Last Goodbye
Adam Walser reports that 74-year-old Michael Keen was a Vietnam veteran and a retired commercial truck driver.
Pamela Martin tells Walser her husband drove trucks for about 40 years.
When Walser asks if Keen ever had a wreck in all that time, Martin answers simply: “No. Never had one.”
That detail hits hard, because after four decades of safely driving big rigs, it wasn’t his mistake behind the wheel that killed him.
Walser explains that on the morning of February 26, 2021, Keen was on his way to a part-time job as a courtesy driver at a GMC dealership.
Martin recalls that morning clearly, telling Walser, “I got my last kiss and my last ‘I love you’ from him.”
A few hours later, she would be rushing to Tampa General Hospital after coworkers called with news no spouse ever wants to hear.
By then, her husband was already unconscious and would never wake up again.
Racing To A School Bus Fight At Nearly 100 MPH
According to Walser’s reporting, Hillsborough County Sheriff’s Deputy Devin Wooden was responding to a call involving a fight on a school bus when the crash happened.
Attorney John Castro, who represents Pamela Martin, tells Walser the dispute involved elementary school children.
Castro stresses to Walser that “this was not a life-threatening situation.”
He points out that whoever was driving the bus could likely keep things under control for a few minutes.
Castro also notes, based on the records he’s reviewed, that there were other deputies already heading to the call.
In other words, Wooden was not the only law enforcement officer en route.
That context matters.
There’s a world of difference between racing through traffic at extreme speed to stop an active shooter and doing it for a kids’ fight on a bus that several other deputies are already responding to.
Yet, Walser reports, the data recorder from Wooden’s patrol car — the “black box” — shows the deputy was traveling 97 miles per hour on Adamo Drive just before the collision.
Castro tells him that’s almost double the posted 50 mph limit.
Surveillance Video, Black Box Data, And A Violent Impact
Walser’s story describes surveillance video from a nearby car dealership that captured the crash.
He says the footage shows Michael Keen pulling his pickup into the left-turn lane and waiting for a gap in traffic.
When Keen finally begins his turn, Wooden’s patrol car enters the frame.
Walser reports that at that speed, about 142 feet per second, the cruiser covered the equivalent of two football fields in just three seconds.
The lawsuit, as Walser explains, alleges that Wooden did all of this without his lights or siren activated.
Drivers like Keen, relying on normal cues, had no reason to expect a law-enforcement vehicle to be bearing down on them at highway-closing speed.
The video, Walser says, shows Wooden turning his patrol car to the right, directly into Keen’s path, instead of continuing straight.
Martin tells Walser, “The deputy is coming this way, and instead of going straight, he followed the trajectory of Michael’s truck.”
The patrol car struck Keen’s truck and pinned it against a utility pole.
Walser notes that the initial crash report showed Keen was wearing his seatbelt, but Deputy Wooden was not.
On body-camera footage obtained by Walser, Wooden can be heard telling a state trooper, “Bro, I can’t stay under the radar to save my life.”
Another voice replies, “Accidents happen, man. It’s okay.”
That casual tone – in a scene where a 74-year-old man is dying from catastrophic injuries – is jarring.
It feeds into why Martin and Castro say this is not just about one bad decision, but about culture, accountability, and policy.
No Charges, No Discipline – And The Blame Shifted
In Walser’s report, attorney John Castro says Deputy Wooden did not face any criminal charges or internal discipline after the crash.
Walser confirms there was no speeding citation, no seatbelt violation, and not even a careless or reckless driving charge.
When Walser asks Castro if most ordinary drivers would “get away with that” after hitting someone at 97 mph without a seatbelt, Castro answers, “No, I don’t think so.”
That’s the essence of the double standard argument: one set of consequences for regular citizens, another for the people wearing badges.
The sheriff’s office declined to speak with Walser on camera, citing ongoing litigation.
But in court filings reviewed in his reporting, HCSO attorneys do make their position clear.
Walser explains that the sheriff’s office is blaming Michael Keen for the crash instead.
The filing says Keen made an illegal left turn and states that he “conducted himself in a careless or negligent manner,” claiming his actions were a contributing – or even the sole – cause of the crash.
From a legal standpoint, that’s how civil defense often works: push as much blame as possible onto the other driver to minimize liability.
From a human standpoint, it’s easy to see why that argument enrages a family who lost a husband, father, and grandfather to a car traveling nearly 100 mph without warning lights or a siren.
When you combine the surveillance footage, the black box data, and the lack of emergency signals, it’s hard not to feel that Keen did what any reasonable driver would do — turn when it looked safe.
And it’s even harder not to ask why the deputy was effectively invisible until it was too late.
A Widow’s Grief And A Push For Policy Change
Walser reports that Keen never regained consciousness after the crash.
Martin tells him that a week later, she had to make the brutal decision to remove life support.
“They removed his life support and within an hour he was gone,” she says.
“Very tough. And it still is. Not a day goes by that I don’t think about him.”
Martin also tells Walser that HCSO deputies currently have “wide discretion” when it comes to how fast they drive while responding to calls.
That’s not unusual across the country, but this case shows how risky that discretion can be when there aren’t strict safeguards around speed, lights, and sirens.
She believes if Wooden had been driving even 70 miles an hour instead of 97, her husband might still be alive.
“If he’d have only been going 70 miles an hour,” she says, “we wouldn’t be sitting here today.”
That’s not just a hypothetical.
At 70 mph with lights and sirens blaring, Keen would have had more time to see the patrol car and react – or Wooden would have had more time and distance to brake or steer clear.
Walser notes that multiple attempts to settle the case before trial have failed.
Jury selection, he reports, is scheduled to begin soon.
Martin tells him she hopes something positive comes out of her loss, including changes to the sheriff’s office policy on speeding.
In her words, “They always say to serve and protect. They didn’t serve Michael and they didn’t protect him. And they didn’t serve me because they didn’t protect him.”
Bigger Questions About Emergency Driving And Trust
What Adam Walser’s reporting really exposes is a larger tension between public safety and police privilege on the road.
Deputies and officers genuinely do need the ability to move quickly in true emergencies.
But when a deputy is racing at nearly 100 mph to a school bus fight involving elementary kids, with other units already on the way, it’s fair to ask whether that speed was necessary or responsible.
And when that decision ends with a careful, law-abiding 74-year-old dead, it’s even fairer to demand answers.
Cases like this chip away at public trust.
If citizens believe that officers can speed without lights or sirens, skip seatbelts, and avoid even basic traffic citations after a fatal crash, the message is clear: the rules aren’t the same for everyone.
Pamela Martin’s lawsuit isn’t just about money.
It’s about forcing a conversation on when the badge becomes a shield not just against danger, but against consequences.
If a jury ultimately agrees that 97 mph with no lights or siren on a busy surface road is unacceptable, it could push agencies in Florida and beyond to tighten their policies.
Because “serve and protect” should mean protecting the people obeying the speed limit too – not only the ones with flashing lights on their roofs.
Raised in a small Arizona town, Kevin grew up surrounded by rugged desert landscapes and a family of hunters. His background in competitive shooting and firearms training has made him an authority on self-defense and gun safety. A certified firearms instructor, Kevin teaches others how to properly handle and maintain their weapons, whether for hunting, home defense, or survival situations. His writing focuses on responsible gun ownership, marksmanship, and the role of firearms in personal preparedness.
