Man fleeing ICE in Florida killed by tractor-trailer, police say

A 28-year-old man who ran from federal immigration agents in St. Johns County was killed when he stepped into the path of a tractor-trailer on State Road 16, Florida Highway Patrol said. The encounter began near a gas station and convenience store parking lot east of Interstate 95, and within minutes it turned into a fatal collision now under joint federal and state review.

Florida Highway Patrol said the stop unfolded around 6:40 to 6:42 a.m. Tuesday, July 14, 2026, in the parking lot of a Wawa gas station near SR 16 in St. Augustine. ICE and Homeland Security Investigations agents had stopped a vehicle carrying four people. All four fled on foot, and one of them, Dylan Bryan, ran across State Road 16 and into the path of a tractor-trailer.

The truck driver, a 64-year-old man from Lake City, stopped and tried to help. Bryan died at the scene. Officials have not said whether Bryan or the other three people were the target of the operation, and the whereabouts of the other three were not immediately clear.

The Department of Homeland Security said federal law enforcement had conducted an operation near St. Johns, Florida, and said Homeland Security Investigations was investigating the death with the Florida Highway Patrol. DHS also said Bryan was a Mexican national. The death was described as the third in about a week involving encounters with DHS or ICE agents, following separate fatal incidents in Texas and Maine.

The timing sharpened scrutiny of immigration enforcement on American roads. The Trump administration ordered ICE agents to pause most traffic stops Tuesday, the same day Bryan was killed, a reminder that a roadside stop can unfold in seconds and push terrified people into traffic with no margin for error.