{"id":294706,"date":"2026-06-03T18:11:09","date_gmt":"2026-06-03T18:11:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/294706\/"},"modified":"2026-06-03T18:11:09","modified_gmt":"2026-06-03T18:11:09","slug":"deanna-harrell-arrested-in-daytona-beach-shores-crash-that-killed-tammie-jo-baker-nbc-6-south-florida","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/294706\/","title":{"rendered":"Deanna Harrell arrested in Daytona Beach Shores crash that killed Tammie Jo Baker \u2013 NBC 6 South Florida"},"content":{"rendered":"

A woman who was allegedly drunk when she drove her truck through a Florida toll booth<\/a>, killing the attendant before ending up in the ocean has been charged in the crash, authorities said.<\/p>\n

Deanna Harrell, 35, was arrested Wednesday morning on charges of vehicular homicide and DUI manslaughter in Monday’s crash in Daytona Beach Shores that claimed the life of Tammie Jo Baker, Volusia County Sheriff’s Office officials said.<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\"Deanna<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\tVolusia County Sheriff’s OfficeVolusia County Sheriff’s Office<\/p>\n

Deanna Harrell in custody on June 3, 2026.<\/p>\n

Authorities said the pickup truck crashed into a beach ramp toll booth occupied by Baker, who had entered less than a minute earlier.<\/p>\n

“The thing to take away is, you’re here and you’re gone, 35 seconds after our victim enters the booth she’s dead,” Volusia County Sheriff Mike Chitwood said at a news conference Tuesday.<\/p>\n

Surveillance footage released by the sheriff’s office showed the pickup plowing through the booth and driving into the water.<\/p>\n

Body camera footage also released by the sheriff’s office showed deputies responding and finding lifeguards trying to assist Baker.<\/p>\n

The footage shows Harrell sitting in the sand near her truck before she’s handcuffed and placed in a sheriff’s office vehicle.<\/p>\n

Chitwood said before the crash, Harrell had been at work but was sent home due to slow business and inclement weather.<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\"A<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\tVolusia County Sheriff’s OfficeVolusia County Sheriff’s Office<\/p>\n

A driver was detained after they crashed into a toll booth in Florida, killing an attendant before driving into the ocean on Monday, authorities said.<\/p>\n

Harrell went to a bar, where she reportedly had two rum and Coke drinks and part of a shot before leaving, Chitwood said.<\/p>\n

She also told a detective she had a vodka and Gatorade drink that she made herself, Chitwood said.<\/p>\n

About 10 minutes before the crash, a person had called authorities to report a drunk driver in a truck who reportedly ran over a mailbox, hit a trashcan and drove the wrong way against traffic, almost hitting another vehicle head-on, Chitwood said.<\/p>\n

A second caller reported a “very drunk driver” in a truck who was “all over the road” about six minutes before the crash, Chitwood said.<\/p>\n

After the crash, Harrell, of Ormond Beach, had been Baker Acted for a mental health evaluation for making statements about wanting to take her own life, authorities said.<\/p>\n

She’s now being held without bond.<\/p>\n

Chitwood said Tuesday that authorities were awaiting blood alcohol tests but said Harrell was prescribed medical marijuana.<\/p>\n

She has no real criminal history and told authorities she lives in a state park, Chitwood said.<\/p>\n

Baker would have celebrated her 63rd birthday on June 16, Chitwood said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A woman who was allegedly drunk when she drove her truck through a Florida toll booth, killing the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":294707,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[28,30,29],"class_list":["post-294706","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-florida","tag-florida","tag-florida-headlines","tag-florida-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/294706","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=294706"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/294706\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/294707"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=294706"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=294706"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=294706"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}