Polk County Sheriff Grady Judd
Officials say Jaheim Robertson has died
Seven Hours After Crash Boozing John Camfield Still Double the Limit
Polk County deputies arrested a former Mississippi law enforcement officer for five counts of DUI after hitting five children as they were walking home from their bus stop in Poinciana on Thursday evening.
04/28/2017 — Polk County Sheriff Grady Judd talking about the arrest of John Camfield, 48, Â who hit five children while drunk on April 27, 2017. The Sheriff reported that the children were walking home from the bus stop when they were hit about 5 pm by a drunk driver who fled the scene.
Deputy J.J. Quintana gave this account of the events at a press conference.
“My daughter called me and told me one of her friends were hurt really bad, I ran out of my house to the scene, I had been in bed and was barefoot. I noticed that one of the kids was bleeding profusely from his face, I ran back to my house and retrieved my first-aid kit and ran back to the scene, I saw there were two nurses on the scene trying to treat the child, one person who was there told me that they guy who did it was down the road. I got back in my cruiser and ran drove down to where the subject vehicle was crashed into a tree.  I radioed for more units and helped with traffic until other units arrived and took the subject into custody.”
“As soon as my daughter started screaming, I got out of bed and ran to the scene at the end of my road.”
“I treated him with the utmost respect, but I don’t care who he was. One of the kids is my next-door neighbor and I am very close with his father and the family, he is doing well.”
“I have been doing this job for four years and I have seen a lot and I have been involved with a lot. Nothing compares to getting a call from your daughter asking for help and there is nothing you can do.”
We recovered blood and tissue material from the children from this vehicle.
Sheriff Judd: “When Deputy Quintana arrested him, this guy told the deputy to ‘give him some respect, as he is law enforcement’. He has put people in jail and now he’s going to see it from the other side.  When someone acts like this, they do not deserve respect. We are going to do everything possible to see to it that he never is out of jail for the rest of his life. He is a total embarrassment. We recovered blood and tissue material from the children from this vehicle. This investigation will be complete and thorough and overtly convincing.  He lives here in this area and at one point went back to Mississippi, he has been arrested there for DUI and public drunkenness, he has bragged about being a fan of Captain Morgan, he hit another vehicle driven by a pregnant woman. Other law enforcement agencies told us they had tried to help him and he refused all help. This is a man who deserves to be in prison. He has worked for ten different agencies and they shuffled him around. The woman was transported and treated but she will be all right. She didn’t have significant injuries, Camfield was so drunk that he fell onto the patrol car and dented the car.”
“John Camfield is a man who is an absolute drunk, he doesn’t care about the woman he hit or the children he ran over. If he is not in prison, the community around him is not safe.”
“Three children were treated at the scene and released, two children are in critical condition.”
“Deputy Quintana was working the midnight shift and was asleep when this took place, he wasn’t just laying around, this was his sleep time.”
“He is not worthy to be called a former law enforcement officer, he is a crook, he is a criminal and that is all he should be called. Â We just got this guy in jail a few hours ago and it is a long process to prepare an investigation, it is a very slow and meticulous process We knew him from his old job at the former Cypress Gardens as “Cam” and are working hard to bring about a complete investigation.”
School Superintendent Jackie Byrd: “We need to pray for them.”
On Thursday, April 27, 2017, PCSO deputies arrested 48-year-old John Camfield of Davenport, a former Mississippi law enforcement officer, for:
4Â counts DUIÂ and Property Damage (M-1)
1 count DUI (M-1)
1Â count DUI with Serious Bodily Injury (F-3)
1Â count Leaving the Scene of a Crash with Serious Bodily Injury (F-3)
1 count DUI Manslaughter (F-3)
1 count Reckless Driving With Serious Bodily Injury (F-3)
1 count Vehicular Homicide (F-2)
1 count Leaving the Scene of a Crash Involving Death (F-1)
PCSO confirmed Camfield was a law enforcement agency at the following Mississippi agencies, and possibly more: Yalobusha County Sheriff’s Office, Tunica County Sheriff’s Office, Oxford Police Department, Hernando Police Department.
An excerpt from the affidavit is below, and is self-explanatory:
On 04-27-17 at approximately 1659 hours suspect, John Camfield, was operating his vehicle (2008 Kia Rio 4-door) within the area of Poinciana, Polk County, Florida. Camfield was northbound on Allegheny Road approaching the intersection of Athabasca Dr.
For unknown reasons, the suspect’s vehicle left the roadway. Â A witness was traveling northbound behind the suspect vehicle and observed Camfield lean forward in the vehicle and then leave the roadway onto the east shoulder. The witness advised she saw the vehicle strike multiple juvenile victims.Â
During the time the suspect left the roadway, there was a group of kids walking on the east shoulder of the roadway. The group had just got off the school bus (for Dundee Ridge Middle Academy) and were walking home. The suspect struck one of the juvenile victims, 15-year-old Jonte Robinson (male), with a glancing blow and struck him with the passenger side of the vehicle to his left arm and left leg. Jonte was complaining of pain to his wrist and ankle.Â
The suspect continued in a northerly direction on the shoulder of the road striking another juvenile victim, 14-year-old Jasmine Robertson (female), with a glancing blow. Jasmine complained of back pain.Â
A victim, 12-year-old Rylan Pryce (male), was also struck by the car with a glancing blow and complained of pain to is left arm.
The suspect continued off the roadway in a northerly direction and struck two other juvenile victims, 13-year-old Jahiem Robertson (Jasmine’s brother) and 13-year-old Juan Mena (male). Both Robertson and Mena sustained serious, life-threatening injuries to included spinal injuries, facial fractures, and head trauma.Â
Jahiem and Juan were both airlifted to Arnold Palmer Children’s Hospital in Orlando. Jahiem succumbed to his injuries on Friday, April 28, 2017.
Roadway evidence showed no signs of pre-impact braking and a post-crash debris field supported the fact the juvenile victims were off the roadway on the shoulder at the time of impact.Â
Witnesses stated after impact with the juvenile victims, the suspect traveled back onto the roadway, slowed and then accelerated rapidly in a northerly direction without stopping or rendering aid.
One witness followed the suspect until he turned right on Bayberry Rd and left on Poinciana Parkway until she observed the vehicle apparently stopped. While continuing to travel on Poinciana Parkway the suspect failed to properly avoid the vehicle in front of him, which cause the front of the Kia to impact the rear of a Nissan Murano. This impact disabled the KIA and prevented him from traveling further.Â
At approximately 1800 hours Traffic Deputy Brackley made contact with the suspect at the second crash scene (he had been detained by off-duty Deputy Sheriff Jonathan Quintana – see below). During his contact with the suspect, Brackley observed maximum clues of impairment during consensual field sobriety tasks. Brackley also noted the faint odor of alcohol emitting from the suspect and observed poor coordination/balance. A post-crash investigation revealed that the suspect traveled approximately 4000 feet from the area of the hit and run to the second crash site.Â
During this entire series of events, the suspect made no attempt to render aid or report the crashes. The investigation determined that the suspect’s actions were reckless, during the impact with the numerous juvenile victims on the side of the road, and were without regard of life or property.
During this crash, the suspect was unlawfully impaired and his faculties were impaired to the extent he could not safely operate a motor vehicle. Post-crash a search warrant was obtained for the suspect’s blood and those results are pending toxicology results.
At 2347 hours a breath test of the suspect was conducted at the Polk County Jail. The results were a .147 BAC. Â
Off-duty PCSO Deputy Sheriff Jonathan “JJ” Quintana, who lives in the area, was on the phone with his 11-year-old daughter, who had called him to come pick her up from the bus stop (she rides the same bus) when she saw Camfield crash into the 5 children. His daughter began screaming into the phone, and Deputy Quintana ran out of his house, barefoot, to the scene.
When the deputy arrived and saw the injured children, he ran back to get his patrol car with his first aid kit inside. He drove back to the scene to tend to the victims, and saw two nurses treating the injured – they yelled out to him in which direction the suspect vehicle fled. Deputy Quintana immediately left to locate the suspect, and caught up to the suspect vehicle on Poinciana Parkway, after it had crashed into a stopped car. Deputy Quintana grabbed his agency-issued rifle from within his vehicle and his handcuffs and detained the suspect while calling for backup. PCSO deputies were already en-route, having been called by witnesses.
Deputy Quintana is 30 years old and has been a deputy sheriff since 2013. He works the night shift in the Northeast District (Davenport). Had he been scheduled to work on the evening of April 27th, he would not have been home when the crash occurred.
Brinsky Denard Gardiner committed aggravated battery attacked firefighter who came to the aid of deputies on another DUI arrest.