Authorities released scary footage of a Florida Highway Patrol trooper slamming into a speeding vehicle to stop it from running down a deputy deploying stop sticks during a chase last week.
Dashcam video captured the Sept. 27 incident as police pursued a 20-year-old driver and a 16-year-old boy along Interstate 4 in Polk County, WFLA-TV reports. A Polk County sheriff's deputy was setting up stop sticks ahead in the road when the footage appears to show the fleeing vehicle lose control and head in the direction of the deputy.
That's when a Florida Highway Patrol trooper crashed into the side of the oncoming vehicle, disabling it. No one was injured in the incident.
“What you see in that video is nothing unusual for deputies, officers, and troopers anywhere," Sheriff Grady Judd said in a statement. "They will insert themselves into dangerous situations without hesitation for not only other law enforcement, but for anyone who is in danger. It’s what we do.”
The driver, who was wanted on a burglary warrant in Hillsborough County, was arrested and charged with grand theft auto, driving without a valid license, aggravated assault on a law enforcement officer, child neglect and other counts. The teenage passenger was charged with burglary.
