Deputy In ICU After Pushing Deputy Wife Out Of Path Of Truck Driven By Deputy From Another Agency

Campbell County, TN – An Anderson County sheriff’s deputy remains hospitalized in intensive care after he and his deputy wife were struck by a speeding pickup truck driven by a deputy from another county while they were trying to fix a motorcycle on the side of a residential roadway.

The driver behind the wheel of the 2017 Chevrolet Silverado that struck the Anderson County Sheriff’s Office deputies has been identified as Campbell County Sheriff’s Deputy Raymond Surber, who was also off-duty at the time of the horrific collision, WVLT reported.

Anderson County Sheriff’s Office (ACSO) Deputy Lucas Shoffner and his wife, ACSO Deputy Nicole Shoffner, were both off-duty the night of Aug. 1 when they stopped on Clover Circle to fix the chain that had slipped off of their miniature motorbike, according to the Tennessee Highway Patrol (THP).

All of a sudden, the deputies saw the headlights of a quickly-approaching pickup truck, WATE reported.

Deputy Nicole Shoffner said her husband pushed her “to a point of safety” just before the vehicle slammed into them both.

Deputy Lucas Shoffner took the brunt of the hit from the big SUV.

“I woke up in the grass – I remember having grass in my mouth and my left shoe was off,” Deputy Nicole Shoffner told WATE. “After that, I saw Lucas in the road, face-down.”

She said she ran to her injured husband and began doing a sternum rub.

“He had blood coming out of his nose and his mouth,” she recalled. “I was just trying to talk to him, trying to keep him with me.”

Police arrived at the scene and both injured deputies were rushed to nearby hospitals, WATE reported.

Deputy Nicole Shoffner was transported to Fort Sanders for x-rays and a head CT, while her husband was rushed to University of Tennessee Medical Center’s Intensive Care Unit (ICU).

She was able to see him the following night, WATE reported.

“He was on a lot of medicine but Tuesday night I did get to tell him that I loved him, and he told me that he loved me back,” Deputy Nicole Shoffner said.

She suffered road rash and a small hip fracture in the crash and cannot walk without assistance, WLVT reported.

Deputy Lucas Shoffner was diagnosed with a fractured skull, brain bleed, a blood clot in the main artery of his neck, and multiple facial fractures, according to a fundraising campaign established to help the deputies during their recoveries.

“Currently they have intubated him and placed a central line in him as well as a ‘bolt’ in his skull to help relive inner cranial pressure,” the fundraising page read. “This is our biggest prayer at the moment. If the inter-cranial pressure reaches a certain threshold, they will have to perform more invasive intervention. At the moment, however, and as no surprise, our warrior is holding strong.”

Lucas Shoffner; Help for a Hero https://t.co/in5sh68BbP Please check out this go fund me for my brother and pray for my family.

— Loganfoody (@loganfoody) August 5, 2022

The ACSO said in a Facebook update on Aug. 9 that Deputy Lucas Shoffner “is fighting for his life.”

“Please pray for Lucas. He is an incredible young man who has devoted his entire career to serving his country and community,” the ACSO said. “You don’t find them much better than Lucas. Pray for healing. Pray for Nicole. Pray that she will continue to stay strong during this incredibly tough time.”

The THP is handling the ongoing investigation into the crash, WVLT reported.

The couple’s attorney, Greg Isaacs, said the pickup truck Deputy Surber was allegedly driving “left skid marks in the range of 20 to 25 feet,” according to WATE.

“Again, this is a residential roadway with a 15-mile-per-hour speed limit,” Isaacs added.

According to the THP incident report, charges are pending against all three deputies involved in the crash, which Isaacs said is “absurd,” WATE reported.

The attorney said the pending charges against his clients may simply be a “clerical error.”

The Campbell County Sheriff’s Office (CCSO) confirmed that one of its deputies was involved in the collision and said it is not involved in the investigation in any way.

“Please join us in praying for everyone involved, and for the full recovery of those who were injured,” the CCSO said.