ATV driver dies after being thrown into shallow drainage ditch, Florida cops say

A 36-year-old ATV driver died after he was thrown from the vehicle into a drainage ditch, according to a Florida sheriff’s office.

The crash happened while man was driving a 2017 Honda all-terrain vehicle with friends in a wooded area near a lake in Lake Wales on the morning of Jan. 1, according to the Polk County Sheriff’s Office.

The man, later identified as Christopher Mears, “failed to negotiate a right hand curve,” the sheriff’s office said in an email to McClatchy News. The ATV entered a drainage ditch, and Mears was thrown into shallow water where he drowned.

Deputies responded to the area at around 3:20 a.m. on Jan. 1 and found Mears dead, the sheriff’s office wrote. The road was closed for around three hours while deputies investigated.

They found an empty beer can at the scene, and Mears smelled strongly of alcohol, the sheriff’s office said.

“Excessive speed and impairment appear to be factors in the crash,” the sheriff’s office wrote.

The investigation is ongoing.

Friends on Facebook shared photos of Mears riding airboats and spending time with family members and friends. They wrote that they were going to miss Mears.

“I can’t believe you’re gone,” wrote Anthony Miller. “It doesn’t seem real. You were always a part of my plans and a part of my everyday since we were teenagers.”

Marr Ducker wrote that Mears had spent the last few weeks of his life doing what he enjoyed most: being in the woods.

“And that does bring some comfort but also saddens me (because) we were just getting started,” she wrote. “There was more I wanted to know, to experience with you and you had plans and I was excited for you.”

Lake Wales is around 60 miles southwest of Orlando.

This story was originally published January 3, 2023 at 1:39 PM with the headline "ATV driver dies after being thrown into shallow drainage ditch, Florida cops say."