On December 25, 2019, around 7:50 a.m., PCSO units responded to a single-vehicle crash on Gibsonia Galloway Road at Chiles Lane in Lakeland. The driver of the silver 2014 Mazda four-door car, 61-year-old Benjamin Norman of Lakeland, was extracted from his car and transported to LRHMC with serious injuries. It appears he was westbound on Gibsonia Galloway Road when, for unknown reasons, he lost control of the Mazda and crashed into a metal utility pole on the south side of the roadway. He was not wearing a seat belt.
Deputies made contact with hospital staff that afternoon and were told he was in stable condition following surgery and was expected to survive.
On December 26, 2019, PCSO received notification from the Medical Examiner that Norman succumbed to his injuries at LRHMC and an autopsy was being conducted. While his cause and manner of death are pending toxicology, he did have injuries consistent with blunt force trauma from a vehicle crash.
The investigation is ongoing, and no charges are pending.
