A 47-year-old Tarpon Springs man was arrested after crashing into a Florida Highway Patrol Car that was investigating a crash Saturday.
According to FHP, on Saturday, an FHP Trooper assigned to the Pinellas Park District, was investigating a traffic crash along US-19.
The Trooper’s marked patrol car was parked with emergency lights activated was in the inside northbound lane of US-19, south of Hammock Pine Boulevard, protecting the crash scene.
At 11:50 PM, a 47-year-old Tarpon Springs driver traveling northbound failed to slow, stop or change lanes and rammed his 2021 Toyota Highlander into the FHP patrol car, a 2017 Dodge Charger.
The impact propelled the patrol car forward and it collided with the Trooper standing in front of the vehicle.
Investigators say the Trooper was thrown to the ground by the impact and suffered minor injuries.
Following the crash, the Toyota rotated to a stop across the northbound lanes of US-19 while the patrol car came to rest atop the raised concrete median, closing the northbound lanes until 4:20 AM.
The driver, Tamico Luwyll Gilbert, 47, suffered minor injuries as well and after his release from an area hospital, he was arrested by FHP Troopers for DUI, DUI Injury, and DUI Property Damage and booked into to the Pinellas County Jail.
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