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South Florida Sun-Sentinel.com
Ride in the Keys
Motorcycle falls, burns Palm Beach County deputy
Group of deputies had been headed toward Key West when motorcycle fell, burst into flames
By Jerome Burdi
Sun Sentinel
5:49 PM EDT, October 3, 2009
Palm Beach County Sheriff’s Office Sgt. Richard Ragali loves road trips on his Harley Davidson. But an annual one to Key West on Friday was cut short when his Harley caught fire at a gas station and pinned him, authorities said, burning up to 60 percent of his body.
Ragali, 53, a deputy since 1982, was with a group of colleagues when they stopped at a Shell gas station in Marathon at about 3:30 p.m. to fill their tanks.
“There was a puddle of gas on the ground from a previous customer,” Florida Highway Patrol spokesman Pat Santangelo told The Miami Herald. “When the bike fell, it ignited the gas on the ground, causing the motorcycle to catch on fire.”
Fellow deputies pulled him out but not before he was severely burned. Ragali was flown to Ryder Trauma Center at Jackson Memorial Hospital in Miami in critical condition.
Ragali, who works in the sheriff’s park’s unit, is also a popular instructor at Palm Beach Community College’s police academy.
“He always kept you entertained and he knew what he was talking about,” said former student Katerina Gil, 20, a community service officer with Delray Beach police. “He was upbeat, everyone liked him.”
Former student Gabriel Garcia, 23, was updating his physical test when he saw Ragali Thursday.
“He always kept an eye out for me,” said Garcia, who has not yet landed a job with an agency. He said Ragali was helpful during the application process. And the best way to get Ragali talking was to ask about his Harley.
Garcia told him he was crazy for taking the six hour drive to Key West on a motorcycle.
“I just drove it 13 hours to North Carolina for a party,” was Ragali’s response, Garcia said.
On his trips back from the Keys Ragali preferred the long way home. He’d drive out all the way west to Alligator Alley, Garcia said, and make a loop up to Daytona Beach before heading home.
“You’d talk to him and your perspective towards cops changes,” Garcia said.
Sheriff’s Deputy J.P. Harvey, also an instructor at PBCC, knows Ragali as a colleague and was one of his students six years ago in the academy.
“It was humbling and I was honored to be able to teach at the academy alongside someone who had such a positive impact on my career,” Harvey said.
Information from The Miami Herald was used to supplement this report.
Jerome Burdi can be reached at jburdi@SunSentinel.com or 561-243-6531.
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