The Polk County Sheriff’s Office is investigating a two-vehicle crash that occurred early Friday, April 17, 2026, that resulted in the death of one of the drivers.
Deputies were dispatched along with Polk County Fire Rescue at around 12:29 am, to the crash scene on US 27 near B. Moore Road, near Haines City.
The crash involved a 2020 Hyundai Sonata and a 2019 Volvo semi-truck with trailer. After the collision between the vehicles, the Hyundai went off the road and crashed into a wall of the First Apostolic Pentecostal Church located at 600 B. Moore Rd.
Upon arrival of first responders, 24-year-old Jovanna Saily Reyes of Bowling Green was found deceased.
The driver of the truck, a 24-year-old female from Tampa, was uninjured and cooperated with the PCSO’s Traffic Homicide investigators.
Based on a witness statement and evidence thus far, the semi-truck had been traveling south on US 27 and completed a legal U-turn to travel north. The driver told detectives that she saw a northbound vehicle a significant distance away before she attempted her turn.
Reyes’ Hyundai struck the side of the trailer and passed under it, then continued across the median, went off the west side of the road, through a chain-link fence, and hit the church wall.
Detectives found no pre-impact skid marks.
Both directions of US 27 were closed for about five hours for the crash investigation, which remains ongoing.
The speed of the Hyundai appears to be a factor which led to the crash, and at this time, no civil or criminal charges are anticipated.
SOURCE: POLK COUNTY SHERIFF’S OFFICE
