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Dangerous weekend for two Polk County troopers
Carla Bayron reports
LAKELAND, Fla. - A state trooper is recovering and a Lakeland man is facing charges following a vehicle crash early Monday morning.
According to the Florida Highway Patrol, a trooper in a marked vehicle was traveling westbound on US 98 en route to a minor crash around 12:08 a.m. The trooper was stopped in the left turn lane and when given a green left turn signal, proceeded to turn left.
That’s when, according to FHP, a Hyundai Accent that had been traveling east on US 98 ran a red light and crashed into the passenger side of the trooper’s car.
The trooper suffered minor injuries, as did the Hyundai’s passenger, who’s been identified as a 25-year-old Lakeland man.
A state trooper was hit by a suspect DUI driver early Monday morning. Image is courtesy of the Florida Highway Patrol.
The driver of the Hyundai, Jesus Eduardo Cano Zamora, 20, of Lakeland, also suffered minor injuries and was later arrested by troopers for DUI, no driver’s license, possessing open containers of alcohol and running a red light.
"I'm not aware of the specific blood alcohol content," said Gaskins. "We don't have that information yet, but what we do have that we can release he was at least more than twice the legal limit. He didn't have a driver's license, and he had open containers of alcohol in his vehicle."
This wasn't the only dangerous crash involving a trooper in the past few days. FHP said another troopers was caught in the middle of a road rage incident.
Matthew Reiter, 32, of Auburndale, stood before a judge Monday afternoon. He's accused of driving on the Polk Parkway Sunday afternoon and allegedly becoming agitated by slow moving traffic.
The suspect drove alongside another driver's vehicle, speeding up and slowing down, yelling and using hand gestures. He pointed a rifle at the driver who turned out to be the wrong person to mess with.
"He pointed his weapon at who turned out to be an off-duty Florida Highway Patrol trooper who was able to act swiftly to make sure they were able to identify his car and the defendant," said the prosecuting attorney.
The trooper, who was traveling with his family at the time and wearing civilian clothes, called the suspect in to dispatch. Other troopers tracked Reiter to his home where they found five different firearms in his truck.
"You need to use caution who you deal with because you never know the other person, they might be armed as well, and then we have gun battles on the highway," said Sgt. Steve Gaskins with the Florida Highway Patrol.
The road rage suspect is facing three counts of unlawful display of a weapon and aggravated assault with a weapon. Reiter has no previous criminal history and his bond was set at $16,500.