News and Investigations

The Polk County Sheriff’s Office is investigating the shooting death of 34-year-old Jason Boek of Buchanan Drive in Winter Haven, that occurred around 2:20 a.m. on Tuesday, August 28, 2018, on Dundee Road in unincorporated Polk County.

Preliminary information so far, based on interviews, video, audio, and physical evidence, is as follows:

Late Monday evening/early Tuesday morning, an adult female called for an Uber to drive her home from the Grove Lounge located on US Hwy 27 in Dundee, because she had been drinking. Another woman at the lounge walked the patron out to the Uber when it arrived. The women do not know each other.

The Uber, a Hyundai Elantra being driven by 38-year-old Robert Westlake of Lake Wales, picked the passenger up and headed westbound on Dundee Road.

The woman who assisted the Uber passenger then began receiving text messages from her on-again, off-again boyfriend, Boek, that indicated he thought she got into the Hyundai; Boek told her he was going to pursue the Uber and then beat up the man driving. It appears Boek saw his girlfriend walk out to the Hyundai, and thought she - not the other bar patron - was inside.

Meanwhile, just east of Carl Floyd Road, a Ford F-250 truck aggressively approached the Hyundai from behind, and then abruptly passed and pulled in front of it. Westlake told deputies that he believed the driver of the truck (later identified as Boek) was trying to run him off the road. The truck then stopped on the roadway in front of the Hyundai. Westlake stopped his car. Boek got out and walked towards the Hyundai, yelling at Westlake and claiming that he had a “pistol” (as heard in the attached dash cam video from the Uber). Boek continued to approach, at which time Westlake, who is a concealed weapon permit holder and a licensed armed security guard, reached into the pocket of the driver door and retrieved a handgun, firing one shot at the truck driver.

After Boek was shot, Westlake called 9-1-1 and began lifesaving measures. He continues to cooperate with law enforcement in this investigation. He does not know Boek, and the Uber passenger does not know him either.

Boek’s criminal history includes previous arrests for aggravated battery, battery, burglary, marijuana possession, forgery, larceny, resisting arrest, and VOP. He’s on felony probation for battery, which began in June 2016 and was scheduled to end in June 2021. His driver’s license was suspended in May 2018, and the truck he was driving does not belong to him – he borrowed it from a friend.

Deputies obtained a search warrant for the truck Boek was driving and recovered a marijuana cigarette, and a glass pipe containing meth residue.

The investigation is ongoing.