<p>WINTER HAVEN | A 79-year-old man who passed out behind the wheel of an SUV and killed a Polk County deputy in December, is seeking to have his driver's license reinstated. </p><p>Leo Saunders, of Winter Haven, had his driver's license revoked March 15 for failing to send the state a medical report, according to the Florida Department of Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles.</p><p>The state requested the medical report from Saunders after the Polk County Sheriff's Office recommended he have a medical evaluation to continue driving.</p><p>Saunders' attorney, Richard Straughn of Winter Haven, said Wednesday that Saunders is applying to have the license reinstated.</p><p>The Saunders family "can't put themselves in the shoes of the sergeant and his family, but they are extremely sorry about the accident," Straughn said. "It was an unforeseen medical event that was tragic."</p><p>Saunders declined to comment when reached on Wednesday.</p><p>An investigation into the Dec. 12 crash that killed Sgt. Wes Whitmore Jr. concluded the crash occurred after Saunders passed out behind the wheel of his 2004 Cadillac Escalade.</p><p>As a result, a sheriff's investigator recommended that Saunders face no criminal charges.</p><p>The morning of the crash, Saunders was returning home from Christmas shopping as he headed south on Spirit Lake Road, according to a report on the accident. He lost consciousness after driving over railroad tracks at the Avenue G Northwest intersection.</p><p>The SUV then struck a building that housed Wanda's Collectibles, seriously injuring owner Wanda Perez, 55. </p><p>The SUV continued into the parking lot of a 7-Eleven convenience store where Whitmore had pulled over a couple in the parking lot and was getting out of his patrol car.</p><p>The SUV struck his vehicle. The patrol car spun and struck Whitmore, causing his fatal injuries.</p><p>The SUV drove through the convenience store parking lot, became airborne and fell into a dry retention pond. It rolled and stopped near Spirit Lake Road and Recker Highway.</p><p>Saunders described the moment he lost consciousness to an investigator. </p><p>"It was just like a yellow cloud. I got real woozy and that's the last thing I remember," Saunders said. </p><p>Saunders told an investigator he had no medical history that could explain the black out. His wife, Barbara, told investigators that doctors think Saunders may have had a mild heart attack before the crash.</p><p>The investigation report also found that Saunders had taken a prescription medicine Topamax. He told an investigator he was prescribed it about 16 years ago for tremors he developed in his right hand after a car crash.</p>
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