PINELLAS PARK, Fla. — A Florida Highway Patrol trooper was thrown to the ground and injured after a car crashed into a marked patrol car Saturday night in Pinellas County, the agency reports.
While investigating a traffic crash along U.S. 19, the trooper's car was parked with emergency lights activated in the inside northbound lane of U.S. 19, south of Hammock Pine Boulevard, protecting the crash scene.
At 11:50 p.m., 47-year-old Tamico Luwyll Gilbert of Tarpon Springs was traveling northbound and failed to slow down, stop or change lanes while approaching the patrol car, troopers explain.
Gilbert's Toyota Highlander crashed into the patrol car which propelled it forward, hitting a trooper standing in front of the car, FHP reports. The trooper was thrown to the ground by the crash.
According to the agency, following the crash the Highlander rotated to a final rest across the northbound lanes of the highway. The patrol car came to a stop on top of the raised concrete median.
FHP says the trooper and the driver both suffered minor injuries.
Gilbert was arrested after being released from the hospital for DUI, DUI injury and DUI property damage. He was taken to the Pinellas County Jail.