A Temple Terrace police officer was driving 104 mph in a 50 mph zone seconds before he slammed into an SUV carrying a mother and her three children, killing one of them, according to an arrest report.
Officer Zachary Mason Krug surrendered to Florida Highway Patrol troopers at the Hillsborough County Jail on April 30 and was charged with vehicular homicide and three counts of reckless driving involving serious bodily injury, the agency said.
Krug was on duty but not responding to a call when his unmarked 2023 Ford Explorer patrol vehicle struck a 2014 Nissan Pathfinder on East Fowler Avenue at North Drive on April 15, according to the report.
The Pathfinder’s driver was turning left onto North Drive when Krug hit her vehicle around 3:41 p.m., investigators wrote. She and her three children all suffered serious injuries, according to the report.
One of the children was pronounced dead at Tampa General Hospital at 6 p.m. that evening, the report states.
Investigators based the speed finding on dash camera footage, GPS data and the patrol vehicle’s event data recorder, which the Temple Terrace Police Department turned over, according to the report. Crash reconstruction calculations confirmed the speed, the report states.
Troopers determined after a traffic homicide investigation that Krug’s excessive speed was the primary cause of the crash, FHP said.
The stretch of Fowler Avenue where the crash happened is a busy commercial and residential corridor, with a school about 1,500 feet east of North Drive, investigators wrote. The road has three lanes in each direction, bike lanes and sidewalks. Rush-hour traffic was heavy at the time, according to the report.
In addition to the criminal investigation, the Temple Terrace Police Department conducted an internal administrative investigation and determined the Krug violated department policy and has been terminated.
“We fully support the Florida Highway Patrol’s independent investigation and the actions they are taking based on their findings,” a city statement said. “The actions that led to this arrest are not consistent with our policies, our training, or the expectations we place on our officers. This incident does not reflect the professionalism and commitment demonstrated daily by the members of this department.”