FHP: State trooper injured after drunk driver plows into patrol car at crash scene
Courtesy: Florida Highway Patrol
DUNEDIN, Fla. - A state trooper is recovering after being hit by an accused drunk driver while protecting a crash scene.
According to the Florida Highway Patrol, the trooper was investigating a traffic crash along US 19 shortly before midnight on Saturday. FHP says the trooper’s marked patrol car was parked with its emergency lights activated inside the northbound lane of US 19, south of Hammock Pine Boulevard, protecting the crash scene, when a Toyota Highlander driven by Tamico Luwyll Gilbert plowed into the back of the vehicle.
The impact propelled the patrol car forward and it collided with the trooper, who was standing in front of the vehicle. The trooper was thrown to the ground and suffered minor injuries.
Following the crash, the Toyota spun around before coming to a final rest in the northbound lanes of US 19 while the patrol car came to rest atop the raised concrete median.
Gilbert was taken to an area hospital to be treated for minor injuries. Upon his release, he was arrested for DUI, DUI injury and DUI property damage and taken to the Pinellas County Jail.
Courtesy: Pinellas County Sheriff's Office
This is the second time in two days that a law enforcement vehicle has been hit by someone who failed to move over at the scene of a crash.
On Friday night, a man drove into the back of a Clearwater Beach Police patrol car as officers investigated a separate crash. No officers were injured in that collision, but the driver who collided with the police cruiser was hospitalized.
Courtesy: Florida Highway Patrol