Man Fights with FHP Officer After Orange County Car Crash

By Orlando Personal Injury Attorney on August 17, 2021

Authorities with the Florida Highway Patrol working within Orange County have finally apprehended an 18-year-old individual for allegedly starting a physical altercation with an FHP deputy after his vehicle was involved in an auto accident along State Road 528 early Tuesday morning.

According to preliminary incident reports from responding officers with the Florida Highway Patrol, it was approximately 5:45 a.m. on August 17, 2021, when a trooper with the FHP stopped to assist a 2012 Hyundai Elantra that had crashed in the roadside tree line on S.R. 528 near mile marker 25.5 close to Dallas Boulevard in Orange County. The officer proceeded to pull his marked vehicle over to the side of the highway in order to perform a routine collision stop and find out if the driver required any additional medical or mechanical assistance. It was as the officer reached the sedan’s door that the driver suddenly began fighting with the trooper and the two of them tussled around until the driver eventually took off on foot into the woods.

Local law enforcement agencies in Orange County, as well as backup from the Florida Highway Patrol began an extensive search of the area in question, calling in K-9 units and a tracking helicopter from the Orange County Sheriff’s Department.

After a few hours of being on the run, the 18-year-old male suspect allegedly tried to steal a woman’s golf cart from her property, but his efforts proved to be futile as the homeowner’s residence is surrounded by a gated fence with an electronically-controlled key panel. “The dogs started barking like crazy, I look out my window and there’s a guy on my golf cart driving away with it, trying to leave the property with my golf cart, which he couldn’t leave because I have my back pad locked and the front has a gate,” she said in a witness statement to the Florida Highway Patrol.

Soon after his golf cart heist went awry, the young suspect tried to hide himself in a set of bushes near the woman’s house but the K-9 officer quickly sniffed him out and he was taken into custody. He will be transported and booked into the Orange County Jail after he has received treatment for minor dog bite injuries sustained in the scuffle.

The FHP trooper was treated for minor injuries at the scene and returned to duty shortly after the bizarre incident occurred.

James O. Cunningham

Since 1977, personal injury lawyer James Cunningham has provided effective legal advocacy to people who are injured through the negligent actions of another person or entity throughout the Central Florida area. He fights to obtain recoveries for his clients’ physical and emotional pain and suffering and pursues his clients’ personal injury cases with a commitment to excellence and impeccable preparation.