An Osceola County sheriff’s deputy was arrested after rear-ending a Florida Highway Patrol vehicle and injuring a trooper on Florida’s Turnpike in Osceola County, according to officials.
The wreck happened just after 10 p.m. Tuesday near mile marker 242, where authorities said a Dodge Ram pickup truck driven by Osceola County Deputy HP slammed into the back of an unmarked FHP patrol SUV that had its flashing lights activated.
The impact then caused the FHP vehicle to collide with a construction truck, and the trooper was taken to a hospital with minor injuries, authorities said.
According to an arrest report, a responding trooper spoke with P, who said, “We were driving,” when he was asked what happened. When asked again, P told the trooper that he was driving and then woke up in a ditch, the report states.
The arrest report said there was a woman in the passenger seat of P’ pickup.
The trooper asked P if he had seen the vehicle that he struck, but he said he did not.
Several hours later, around 1:15 a.m., the arrest report states P performed field sobriety tests and the trooper determined he was not under the influence of drugs or alcohol.
However, after P said he had consumed two to three cups of wine earlier in the night and the fact that the responding trooper was concerned that Perkins could not recall that he had been involved in a crash, P was arrested on DUI charges, the report stated.
About an hour later, according to the report, P agreed to submitting a breath sample, and he was arrested.
A breath sample was taken just before 8 a.m. Wednesday that showed a level of 0.008 and another sample taken several minutes later showed a level of 0.000.
P was later booked into the Osceola County jail.
Later Wednesday, the Osceola County Sheriff’s Office issued a statement about the crash.
“The Osceola County Sheriff’s Office is committed to ensuring our deputies are held to the highest ethical standards. It is very unfortunate to see a law enforcement officer arrested for violating the same laws they are sworn to uphold. We are glad that no one was harmed in this incident. This deputy will be immediately relieved of sworn duties, and we will take any further internal action necessary depending on the outcome of the case, in accordance with our policies and procedures. Any further inquiries regarding this criminal investigation should be directed to the Florida Highway Patrol,” the statement said.
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source: clickorlando
