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Lee County deputy dies in custody after birthday bar celebration

Deputy Willard Truckenmiller died May 4, 2016. He was a Lee County Sheriff's deputy, volunteer football coach and father to two children.

A Lee County sheriff's deputy died in custody after being kicked out of the Fort Myers bar where he was celebrating his 32nd birthday.

Willard "Truck" Truckenmiller died from an unknown medical episode after being cut off and kicked out of Shores Bar and Grill early Tuesday morning where he was enjoying his birthday with friends.

“At some point around 1:30 a.m. his demeanor changed. They cut him off. He becomes upset because they'd no longer service him, and he becomes unruly," said Scott Moorey, attorney for the bar. "For safety concerns, they locked the door."

The staff called a Lee County nonemergency line instead of 911. When asked why, Moorey said: "No one was trying to get him in trouble. They were concerned for him, but because of his actions, they felt one of his fellow deputies should come and calm him down."

Even after deputies talked to Truckenmiller about five minutes, "he continued to be unruly and disorderly," so they took him into custody and handcuffed the off-duty deputy, Moorey said.

Deputies called for Lee County EMS about 2 a.m. and medics loaded a conscious Truckenmiller into an ambulance and drove away.

"I can only speculate that the deputies thought he was having some medical event," Moorey said.

He said that Truckenmiller was a regular at the bar.

"The management and patrons are all upset. He was a good guy. I think everybody would like to know what happened whether it was a heart attack or what sort of medical event it was," Moorey said. "Everyone is waiting on answers on cause of death."

Lee County Sheriff Mike Scott released the following statement: “I had just communicated with him that afternoon as it was his birthday. I am very saddened by this tragic turn of events.”

A sheriff's office spokeswoman Friday declined to comment on the situation to The News-Press and said the incident report is not yet ready.

Aside from being a deputy, Truckenmiller was a volunteer football coach at his alma mater, Riverdale High School, and a father of two.

A fellow football coach has started a Gofundme page to raise money for his children. "We tragically lost a member of our Raider family and community," the post begins.

About a day in, more than 55 people have raised about $3,000 of the $20,000 goal, and the page has been shared 1,000 times.

Willard "Truck" Truckenmiller with his two children. Photo provided by Gofundme.com

"This account is solely to help send his children to college and help them in the days to come. Anyone who knew Truck knew how much he truly loved his children," part of the post reads. "Their father was a remarkable human being and will be missed by so many."

Riverdale Principal Gerald Demming said that the school had a moment of silence during Friday's morning announcements.

"He was well-respected by the kids here and faculty, he did a great job helping with the football team and he will be missed," Deming said.

Head Coach Tom Roszell said the team has taken it all in stride.

"It’s been pretty tough," he said.

A spiritual leader is available to the students, he said. "We’re trying to keep them busy."

Truckenmiller played as a linebacker when he was at Riverdale and was the linebacker coach for the last year or so.

"He was a Raider and he brought that pride with him and obviously through his job he shows a lot of leadership for the kids as a good mentor," Roszell said.

As for details surrounding his death: "We’re trying to tell the kids to not worry about things like that … I’m sure the answers will be coming shortly. Right now we’re just trying to honor him."

According to a sheriff's office Facebook post, the agency honored Truckenmiller in November as the East District deputy of the month for handling a tense situation in the field.

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A Marine sniper was having Vietnam flashbacks inside his Lehigh Acres home with numerous guns. Truckenmiller, a Marine who served overseas himself, connected with the fellow serviceman and remembered him from another encounter. Truckenmiller calmed the man down and eventually got him comfortable enough to have medics take the man to Gulf Coast Hospital.

A few weeks later, Truckenmiller was called to the home again on a reported theft and the Marine told him something unexpected, according to the Facebook post: "The veteran explained that during treatment at Gulf Coast Hospital, doctors discovered a very large, life-threatening brain tumor. A local neurosurgeon removed the tumor within days of its discovery and said that without its removal, the veteran would have died."

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