Sailor Who Surprised Sons at Game Killed in Florida Car Crash

See Also: Chief Robert Roy Memorial Fund Established

Updated 11:40 a.m. April 29 and 10:15 a.m. April 30.

After finishing pregame ceremonies at their Imperial Beach Little League game last year, Brady Roy, 5, and his brother Christian, 8, were told to turn around and give the pitcher the ball.

Instead they were surprised by their father Chief Robert Roy, who had just finished a seven-month deployment with the USS Carl Vinson.

On Sunday morning around 3 a.m. an allegedly intoxicated driver rear-ended a 2013 Dodge Charger, pushing the car into a grass median where it flipped several times, the Florida Highway Patrol told northescambia.com.

Robert, 33, was thrown from the car and killed. Two other people in the car suffered minor injuries. Another is reportedly in serious condition.

The driver, 25-year-old Brianna Strum, fled the scene but was later arrested by the Santa Rosa County Sheriff’s Office, the news website said.

In late May 2012, Roy’s wife, Jessica, told IB Patch:
“Your house is never full unless everybody’s home, and the boys always know that there’s somebody missing when he’s not home, and its just basically an emotional fulfillment when everybody’s here.”

Robert was an Imperial Beach Little League coach for three years, and at one point was a coach for Brady's T-ball team, said league secretary Elizabeth McCay.

"Although he was gone a lot for work, he was totally committed when he was in town," she said. "He was so excited he got three years of shore duty so he could coach his boys."

Robert was no longer assigned to the USS Carl Vinson at the time of his death, a sailor with the Nimitz-class aircraft carrier's quarterdeck said.

He was a Chief Petty Officer at Naval Air Station Whiting Field who managed vehicles that transport equipment to aircraft, said Public Affairs Officer Jay Cope.

Whiting Field is the busiest Naval Air Station in the world, according to the Navy.

A memorial may be held at the Florida air station within the next week to honor Robert's memory, Cope said.