A Florida police officer was ticketed after slamming into a passing motorist’s car during a high-speed pursuit, leaving both the driver and the officer injured, authorities said.
Yahaira Castro Montalvo, 26, plans to file a lawsuit in connection with the violent collision, which left her with two broken arms, the Orlando Sentinel reported Wednesday.
Officer Chris Bonner of the the Ocoee Police Department suffered “multiple broken bones” in the crash, the newspaper reported. The 29-year-old was cited for “failing to obey traffic laws” by running a red light, according to a statement from the Florida Highway Patrol.
Traffic camera video released by the Highway Patrol shows Montalvo eastbound driving through an intersection, with a green light, shortly before 5 a.m. May 12, the agency said. Bonner’s northbound patrol vehicle then enters the frame at high speed, hitting the right front of Montalvo’s Toyota Corolla and sending it into a spin. The police car, whose lights and sirens are activated, then veers off the street and strikes a pole and a fire hydrant.
After the collision, a second patrol vehicle that was also involved in the chase slows down before inching through the intersection. Bonner was traveling at 90 miles an hour at the time of the impact, The Sentinel reported.
The officers had been pursuing two people suspected in an earlier armed robbery in Altamonte Springs, about 21 miles northeast of Ocoee. The pursued vehicle got away, police told the newspaper.
