Officer injured after crash with wrong-way driver

DADE CITY, Fla. - Troopers say a Temple Terrace police officer was among those injured when a wrong-way driver crashed into his SUV nearly head-on.

According to the FHP report, it was just after 9 p.m. Tuesday when Louise Valentine turned from Fort King Road onto Clinton Avenue, but somehow ended up going east in the westbound lanes.

A Honda Civic and a Chevy Tahoe were turning west onto Clinton from U.S. 301 when they encountered Valentine's Hyundai Sonata barreling right at them.  The Sonata hit the Tahoe, then spun out and hit the Civic.

The Tahoe was a marked Temple Terrace police vehicle.  The officer inside, William Dittman, was taken to St. Joseph's Hospital and later released.

The driver of the Civic was not badly hurt, but Valentine, 63, had to be flown to Bayonet Point Medical Center.

Troopers are still investigating, but their initial report says they believe alcohol was not a factor.