{"id":401391,"date":"2026-09-16T10:56:30","date_gmt":"2026-09-16T10:56:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/401391\/"},"modified":"2026-09-16T10:56:30","modified_gmt":"2026-09-16T10:56:30","slug":"new-florida-bill-proposes-millions-for-driver-hit-by-orange-county-deputy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/401391\/","title":{"rendered":"New Florida bill proposes millions for driver hit by Orange County deputy"},"content":{"rendered":"

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. \u2013 The next Legislative session in Florida is still a ways off, though some lawmakers have already gotten busy filing new bills for consideration.<\/p>\n

And one of these bills aims to grant over $20 million to a motorcycle driver who was struck by an Orange County deputy back in 2019.<\/p>\n

That bill \u2014 SB 44<\/a> \u2014 was filed early last month by state Sen. Ralph Massullo (R-District 11), and it briefly discusses what happened during the incident.<\/p>\n

A BRIEF ACCOUNT OF WHAT HAPPENED<\/p>\n

According to the bill, the incident occurred around 6 p.m. on Nov. 15, 2019, when the driver \u2014 26-year-old Sean Hurley of Seminole County \u2014 was heading west on Red Bug Lake Road aboard his motorcycle.<\/p>\n

\"\"Sean Hurley was injured when an Orange County sheriff’s vehicle hit his motorcycle on Red Bug Lake Road in 2019. (Courtesy: Ryan Rudd, Morgan and Morgan) (Copyright 2023 by WKMG ClickOrlando – All rights reserved.)<\/p>\n

But at the same time, the deputy \u2014 identified as Nicholas Orrizzi \u2014 was leaving his home for a night shift and pulled out onto the roadway, right into the path of the motorcycle.<\/p>\n

As a result, Hurley was struck in his \u201clower extremity\u201d and was thrown into the grassy median nearby, the bill states.<\/p>\n

\"\"Sean Hurley was injured when an Orange County sheriff’s vehicle hit his motorcycle on Red Bug Lake Road in 2019. (Courtesy: Ryan Rudd, Morgan and Morgan) (Copyright 2023 by WKMG ClickOrlando – All rights reserved.)<\/p>\n

A trooper later determined that Deputy Orrizzi had violated Hurley\u2019s right-of-way.<\/p>\n

THE AFTERMATH OF THE CRASH<\/p>\n

SB 44 states that Hurley suffered \u201ccatastrophic\u201d injuries that required several surgeries, and one of his legs is now shorter than the other.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe requires specialized footwear to walk, and his long-term prognosis is intensive medical treatment and monitoring for the rest of his life,\u201d the bill reads.<\/p>\n

\"\"Sean Hurley was injured when an Orange County sheriff’s vehicle hit his motorcycle on Red Bug Lake Road in 2019. (Courtesy: Ryan Rudd, Morgan and Morgan) (Copyright 2023 by WKMG ClickOrlando – All rights reserved.)<\/p>\n

In 2023, News 6 obtained Orrizzi\u2019s discipline records<\/a> from the Orange County Sheriff\u2019s Office.<\/p>\n

It showed he was suspended for six days after an internal investigation of the crash.<\/p>\n

Records also show Orrizzi was involved in another crash two months later, which investigators also determined was \u201cavoidable\u201d and \u201cmajor.\u201d<\/p>\n

The legislation reveals an Orange County jury found Deputy Orrizzi fully negligent in the case, awarding Hurley $20,839,757 in damages.<\/p>\n

WHAT HAPPENS NOW?<\/p>\n

Florida state law limits judgements<\/a> against government agencies to $200,000.<\/p>\n

The only way around that is to submit a Claims Bill to the Florida Legislature and the governor asking them for an exception \u2014 which is where SB 44 comes in.<\/p>\n

The bill authorizes the sheriff\u2019s office to appropriate county funds to pay the sum to Hurley as compensation.<\/p>\n

SB 44 will need approval from lawmakers and the governor during next year\u2019s Legislative session.<\/p>\n

Copyright 2026 by WKMG ClickOrlando – All rights reserved.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"TALLAHASSEE, Fla. \u2013 The next Legislative session in Florida is still a ways off, though some lawmakers have…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":401392,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[1107,100,2159,1335,139,141,140,99],"class_list":["post-401391","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-orlando","tag-courts","tag-florida-legislature","tag-money","tag-orange-county","tag-orlando","tag-orlando-headlines","tag-orlando-news","tag-politics"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/401391","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=401391"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/401391\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/401392"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=401391"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=401391"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=401391"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}