Mom of Hernando Captain Killed In Crash Speaks Of Her Loss
Maureen Bierwiler’s son Frank came to her home tell her the news.
One of her children, he told her, was killed while driving to work that day. Hernando County Sheriff’s Capt. Scott Bierwiler was 42 when he died during Thursday’s head-on crash with a teenager in Brooksville.
“I said, ‘It just can’t be. It can’t be,’ ” Maureen Bierwiler said after hearing the news of her son’s death. “And we still can’t believe it. But we know he is … We’re all going to make it because we have great faith and great friends and wonderful family.”
Maureen Bierwiler spoke Friday night to News Channel 8.
She said Scott Bierwiler had wanted to be a policeman since he was 3. The family called him “our quiet strength” because he was humble but strong. He was competent, loving and compassionate, she said.
The father of three – two daughters and a son – had supervised the operations bureau, which includes patrol, aviation and canine units, since January 2008.
“And we can’t understand this, but we can accept it as God’s will,” she said of his death. “We know it’s going to be such an extreme void for our family, but it’s also going to be such a tremendous loss for the sheriff’s department.”
Visitations and a funeral Mass for Bierwiler have been scheduled for next week and will be open to the public.
The teenager involved in the crash has been downgraded to critical condition, troopers said. Andrew Frank Morris, 16, of Weeki Wachee, drove a 2002 Mitsubishi Montero head-on into Bierwiler’s unmarked 1999 Ford Crown Victoria cruiser on Powell Road about 5:45 a.m. Thursday, the Florida Highway Patrol said.
Morris, a student at Nature Coast Technical High School, was airlifted to St. Joseph’s Hospital in Tampa after the crash. On Thursday, Morris was listed in serious but stable condition, but on Friday was listed in critical condition, said Sgt. Steve Gaskins, a highway patrol spokesman.
Several aspects of the crash remain under investigation, said Gaskins, noting that the full review will take about 90 days.
Visitations for Bierwiler will be Monday and Tuesday between 2 and 4 p.m. and 6 and 8 p.m. at St. Theresa’s Catholic Church, 1107 Commercial Way, Spring Hill. The funeral Mass will be at 12:30 p.m. Wednesday at the church. The burial will take place after the Mass.
Bierwiler is survived by his wife, Angie, daughters Kayla, 18, and Kiley, 16, and son, Scottie, 9.
