SHADY HILLS — The man told the first sheriff's deputies who encountered him early Friday morning that he was searching for a Bible that had blown from his car.

Less than an hour later, deputies say Ronald Michael Robbibaro went on a one-man rampage in a stolen Coca-Cola delivery truck in northern Pasco County, crashing into two off-duty jail deputies heading to work.

He was shot to death by one of the deputies who Pasco County Sheriff Chris Nocco said Robbibaro attacked.

"His life was in danger," Nocco said of the jail deputy during a morning news conference near the shooting scene. "He was being choked out."

The deputy, Jeffrey Pyle, was taken to a local hospital Friday but was expected to recover from his injuries.

About 5 a.m., Hernando County authorities were notified of a hit-and-run crash on U.S. 41 involving Robbibaro. The victim in the crash, who was not identified, followed Robbibaro's red four-door Nissan south on U.S. 41 into Pasco County, near Coca-Cola Refreshments, a Coca-Cola distribution center, Hernando County Sheriff Al Nienhuis said.

Robbibaro, 30, abandoned his car on the side of the highway and ran toward the distribution center, Nienhuis said.

Nocco said Robbibaro broke into the Coke site, which is surrounded on all sides by chain-link fence topped with barbed wire, and hopped into an idling truck cab that had not yet been hooked up to a trailer. Then he drove through the gate, leaving it a mangled metal heap, and pulled south onto U.S. 41.

Pasco detention Sgt. Paul Van Steen, 51, who was on his way to work at the Land O'Lakes Detention Center, happened to be driving by when Robbibaro pulled onto the road, according to an account from the Pasco Sheriff's Office.

Van Steen, who has been a Pasco deputy since 1995, followed and called 911.

"He's trying to get a tag number to relay that to dispatch," Nocco said at the news conference.

Pyle, 33, who also was on his way to work and saw Robbibaro drive through the gate, followed behind Van Steen, the account said.

Near the intersection of Sunset Acres Lane and U.S. 41, Robbibaro stopped and reversed the truck cab into the hood of the sergeant's Ford Mustang, according to the Sheriff's Office. Van Steen was able to back up to safety.

Pyle drove his Ford F-150 pickup around the Coke truck and waited by the side of the road, according the Sheriff's Office, which said that Robbibaro then drove the truck straight toward Pyle, who fired a shot at the truck's windshield from a personal weapon. Detention deputies are not issued service weapons.

Pyle was in uniform, but unlike the department's 400 patrol deputies, was not equipped with a body camera.

Robbibaro's truck hit the pickup, and he got out and tried to steal Pyle's vehicle, the Sheriff's Office said. Pyle ordered him on the ground but Robbibaro retreated to the truck cab and tried unsuccessfully to back it up, the Sheriff's Office said.

Pyle, who has been a deputy since 2007, went to his own truck and reached in to turn the engine off. That's when the Sheriff's Office said Robbibaro came up from behind Pyle and put the deputy in a choke hold. The pair fell backward and Pyle shot Robbibaro, the account states.

Reached by phone Friday afternoon, Pyle declined to comment.

Authorities had run into Robbibaro earlier Friday, after a woman called 911 around 4 a.m. to report she was being followed, said Nienhuis, the Hernando sheriff. Deputies found Robbibaro near the intersection of U.S. 41 and County Line Road.

He had parked his car and was walking along the road, Nienhuis said. Robbibaro told deputies he was looking for a Bible that had flown off his dashboard and was not following anyone.

Pasco deputies arrived as well, but seeing the situation was being handled, left. Nienhuis said his deputies ran Robbibaro's driver's license and checked for active warrants, but turned up nothing, so they let him go.

"There wasn't sufficient information at that time, either criminally or under the Baker Act, to take action," Nienhuis said at a Friday afternoon news conference.

It was unclear if Robbibaro was under the influence of drugs or alcohol Friday morning, said Pasco County sheriff's office spokesman Kevin Doll. That will be determined during an autopsy, he said.

Nocco said Robbibaro was driving the Coca-Cola truck like a "deadly weapon."

"It could have been somebody going to work driving with their kids in the car and this person basically has a couple-ton weapon in their hands," Nocco said. "And they're trying to (ram) people off the road and back over other vehicles."

Cheryl Puterbaugh, a spokeswoman for Coca-Cola Beverages Florida, which owns the distribution facility on U.S. 41, said the company was assisting law enforcement with the investigation. The facility provided video to the Pasco County Sheriff's Office of the truck ramming through the gate.

U.S. 41 remained closed for nearly 12 hours while investigators worked. Pyle was placed on administrative leave with pay, said Pasco spokesman Kevin Doll, standard procedure for a deputy involved in a shooting.

A man at the Tampa home where Robbibaro's brother lives declined to talk with a reporter Friday morning.

Robbibaro has been arrested three times in Florida since 2008, state records show. He was most recently arrested in Tampa for domestic battery and resisting an officer with violence. According to a Tampa police report, Robbibaro resisted officers who were trying to question him in connection with a domestic violence incident involving his brother. He kicked at them after being placed in handcuffs.

Times staff writer Dan Sullivan and senior researcher John Martin contributed to this report. Contact Josh Solomon at (813) 909-4613 or jsolomon@tampabay.com. Follow @Josh_Solomon15.