LUTZ, Florida — A Pasco County man severely injured in a head-on collision caused by another man fleeing from deputies Saturday evening now faces a long recovery.

Body camera video from a Pasco County Sheriff’s deputy taken during the pursuit shows a bright explosion on the left side of the screen.

“Oh, he hit him,” the deputy can be heard saying.

It’s an image seared into Heather Sober’s mind.    

“To watch the videos and all this footage over and over and over and to sit in that hospital all night and watch the effects of it all…” Sober said as her voice trailed off.

That flash of light was the truck driven by her husband, Kirby Sober, 24, bursting into flames. According to a Florida Highway Patrol report, Kirby was hit head-on by a car driven by Michael Blomberg, 54, who they say was fleeing from deputies.

“He didn’t do anything wrong,” said the Sober family’s attorney, Hunter Higdon. “He was driving down the street, trying to provide for his family when he was viciously struck head-on.”

Just doing his job

Higdon said Kirby Sober was at work at the time, driving a street sweeper vehicle for A Clean Sweep from one parking lot to the next. He said Sober was initially knocked out by the impact of the crash.

“He was able to pull himself out of the vehicle. As he jumped from the vehicle, he realized that his bone was protruding through his leg,” Higdon said.

“He keeps telling me that the boys and me are what helped him get out of the truck,” Heather Sober said. “He had to pull himself out of the truck and then remove himself from the vicinity of the truck so that he was safe.”

Heather said her husband thinks it was a matter of minutes from when he got out of the truck to when it was engulfed in flames.

Pursuing a suspected kidnapper

Pasco County Sheriff Chris Nocco said deputies pursued Blomberg after responding to a call from a clerk at a gas station near the Ballantrae subdivision in Land O’ Lakes. Blomberg and a woman were reportedly fighting.                                       

“This woman mouthed to him, ‘Help me,’” Nocco said Monday of the alleged victim’s reported plea to the clerk. “She was in a headlock.”

Nocco said when deputies arrived at the Circle K, Blomberg's vehicle was pulling onto the road. He said deputies followed, thinking that the reported victim may be in the car.

At some point, Blomberg ended up driving on the wrong side of State Road 54, where deputies said he hit Kirby Sober. Nocco said footage of the incident aired nationally as part of A&E’s Live PD show.

Blomberg died. Nocco said the reported victim of the incident at the gas station wasn’t in the car at the time of the crash.

Recovery begins

Heather Sober said her husband has second degree burns on his arm and back. He had surgery on his leg Tuesday morning, and another surgery was scheduled for later that day. More could be on the way. An online fundraiser was set up for the Sober family to help them while Kirby Sober, the sole breadwinner of the family, is out of work.

The couple have three young children between the ages of 9 months and 6 years old.

While her husband is in what she described as immense pain, Heather Sober said he has still found the strength to comfort her.

“He keeps telling me, ‘Stop crying, I’m alive,’” she said.

Higdon said he’s looking into possible legal action related to the crash.

For information on the fundraiser to benefit the Sober family, visit https://www.gofundme.com/bystander-in-tragic-accident-sr-54.

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