Photo by: Florida Highway Patrol
The Winter Haven Police Department said one of their officers was hospitalized after being involved in a bad crash early Sunday morning.
The department said it happened at around 2:20 a.m. at the intersection of Cypress Gardens Blvd. and 1st Street South in Winter Haven.
The officer, who was in a marked police car, was traveling east on Cypress Gardens Blvd. with emergency lights and sirens activated. Winter Haven police said he was responding to a “possible armed disturbance.”
As he entered the intersection, he was hit by a Honda Accord traveling south through the intersection at high speeds, the Florida Highway Patrol said. The driver of the Honda was identified as a 21-year-old Winter Haven man.
The Honda struck the police car, a Chevy Tahoe, on the driver’s side and sent both cars off the road and into the parking lot of a nearby coffee shop.
The Honda sustained serious damage and wound up on its side. The 21-year-old driver was airlifted to a nearby hospital, and the officer was taken by ambulance to the hospital.
FHP identified the injured officer as a 23-year-old man.
Both were seriously injured, FHP said, and charges are pending against the driver.
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Source: wfla
