WINTER HAVEN, Fla. — A Winter Haven family is pleading for justice following a fatal car crash over the weekend. On Saturday afternoon, the Polk County Sheriff's Office said a man drove off the roadway, hit and killed a man, then crashed into a motel.
A 29-year-old driver hit Standall Brooks, who was standing outside a Winter Haven motel before crashing into the lobby, deputies say.
At around 4:21 p.m., Andrew Hensley was going east on Cypress Gardens Boulevard before his 2018 black Ford Focus left the roadway and crashed into Brooks, 33, and then into the Economy Inn Suites, at 1901 Cypress Gardens Blvd., authorities say.
His family is remembering him as a stand-up guy who would do anything for anyone.
"I called him Mr. Fix-it because he tried to fix everything," Anthony Arnold, Brooks' father, said.
Brooks' family shared he was a property manager at Economy Inn Suites in Winter Haven. He was killed while working, spraying the hotel lobby windows to clean them.
Brooks' fiance, Neechelle Hollis, said he had just finished installing an air conditioning unit before he made his way to the motel lobby.
"When this happened, he was doing his job," Hollis said. "He wasn't hurting, nobody wasn't yelling at nobody. He was just doing his job."
Economy Inn Suites Winter Haven shared a surveillance video, showing Brooks the moment he was killed. The video shows him spraying the lobby windows from the outside. With Brooks' back turned, a black car crashes into him, throwing him through the window, the room and into the lobby wall. A pool of blood forms around Brooks' head. Minutes later, first responders arrive. A towel is laid over Brooks' body.
"It was so hard," Vickie Brooks Arnold, Brooks' mother, said as she fought back tears. "It's like I'm living a nightmare. I don't know. I have two younger boys. And they keep asking me unthinkable questions? What happened? Why, how do you get killed at work? [I] tell them I don't have that answer for now."
In the sheriff's office's release, Hensley was treated at an area hospital, then released to go home.
"Never have I seen someone kill someone and go home and go to sleep, released from the hospital, out of police custody, to go home and go to sleep with his family while my family is suffering," Anthony Arnold said.
The sheriff's office said it appears the driver suffered a medical episode.
Brooks' was a father to three sons and a stepson. He was one of four kids. His parents never thought they'd be burying their son.
Brooks' family wants accountability in this fatal car crash case as they now plan a funeral.
"I want justice. Most of all, I want him [Hensley] to suffer like I'm suffering," Hollis said. "I want him to hurt like I hurt. He still gets to be alive. It doesn't matter the amount of justice I get, he's never coming back."
Right now, the driver is not charged in this crash. It is still under investigation by the sheriff's office.
The sheriff's office said Hensley consented to provide a blood sample while at the hospital. That'll be sent to the Florida Department of Law Enforcement for testing.
The family has created a GoFundMe to help cover funeral costs. To read more, click here.
Malique Rankin is a general assignment reporter with 10 Tampa Bay. You can email her story ideas at mrankin@10tampabay.com and follow her Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram pages.