Sheriff’s Deputy, Robert Crapse, 32, was killed at 2:15 a.m. on 6/15/12 in the northbound lanes of I-95 when a driver going the wrong way on Interstate 95 struck his cruiser head on. Sheriff’s Deputy, Robert Crapse, who resided in Ellabell, had been working traffic control and was headed back to the north end of the county when the accident occurred and was not wearing his seat belt. The crash happened near mile marker 97 which is between the I-16 and Highway 204 exits. Crapse had his K9 “Seppe”, a Belgian Malinois, with him at the time of the accident and his K9 survived with just a scraps and bruises. The driver of the other car , 23-year-old Patricia Ann Collins, of Richmond Hill was driving a white Toyota Corolla car . Crapse died at the scene. Collins, who was wearing a seat belt was airlifted to Memorial University Medical Center with life threatening injuries. Chatham Metro Police dispatch had actually received seven calls of a vehicle traveling the wrong way down the interstate just before the call came in about the deadly crash. Police put out a BOLLO in Chatham County, but that Crapse would not have heard it. Law Enforcement in Bryan County has access to Chatham dispatch, but would have to manual switch the radio to hear it. A second Bryan County Deputy pulled Deputy Crapse from his vehicle after the accident. He had been following him home after their shift. Crapse started his law enforcement career working at a detention center in 1999, when he was about 19 years old and then became a deputy in 2006. Crapse was promoted from Cpl. to Sgt. about two hours after his death. An estimated 800 people attended the funeral service. Canine Seppe will be retired and given to Crapse’s family. Crapse leaves behind a wife of eleven years Ashli Crapse and three children, one son Robert Warren “Robby” Crapse, Jr. and two daughters Sarah Lynn and Natalie Faye Crapse. Ages of his children are 6,8, and 10. A fund to benefit the family of Bryan County Deputy Sheriff Robert Crapse has been set up at the Heritage Bank, 16 Railroad Street East, in Pembroke. The bank may be contacted at 912-653-2265. You can donate to the “Crapse Family Memorial Fund”, account #41894833 at any Heritage Bank.
Patricia Ann Collins’ blood-alcohol level was approaching twice the legal limit when the car she was driving the wrong way on Interstate 95 collided with Bryan County Sheriff’s Department Deputy Sgt. Bobby Crapse’s vehicle and killed him. A Traffic Crash Report released on 7/17/12 showed that A blood sample taken from her at Memorial and tested by the GBI showed Collin’s blood-alcohol content was .139 after she arrived at the hospital. Driving with a blood alcohol content of .08 or more is considered driving under the influence in Georgia. On May 10, 2014, Patricia Ann Collins, entered an open-ended guilty plea to charges stemming from the June 15, 2012, two-car crash that killed Bryan County sheriff’s Deputy Sgt. Robert Warren “Bobby” Crapse. Collins on 4/29/14 entered a plea of guilty to vehicular homicide and DUI charges stemming from the two-car crash that killed Bryan County sheriff’s Deputy Sgt. Robert Warren “Bobby” Crapse. Chatham County Superior Court Judge Timothy R. Walmsley sentenced Patricia Ann Collins on 4/29/14 to 15 years in prison with 7 to serve for the 2012 traffic death of Bryan County sheriff’s Deputy Sgt. Robert Warren “Bobby” Crapse. Collins is to have no contact with the victim’s family and undergo continued evaluation for substance abuse. Collins’ blood alcohol level was a .138 and earlier had a registered .185 at the hospital. It is illegal to drive in Georgia with a blood alcohol level of 0.08 or greater.
