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A Florida state trooper has received widespread praise after decisively moving to stop a drunken Florida woman from plowing her car into a foot race.
Florida police knew there would be trouble when Kristen Kay Watts, 52, of Sarasota, Florida, began to drive around multiple roadblocks that had been set up to protect people involved in the annual Skyway 10k race on Sunday, Fox13 reported.
Watts’ BMW was barreling down the I-275, en route to the south end of the Sunshine Skyway Bridge in St. Petersburg, Florida, where the race was being held, flagrantly ignoring the traffic cones and barriers and even officers attempting to halt her with a traffic stop.
“This driver had blown past several check points, going around traffic cones, going around other officers and had engaged in high speeds,” commented Ken Watson, a Florida state trooper, on Monday.
Finally, Master Trooper Toni Schuck, 47, a veteran of the Florida State Troopers for 26 years, decided to take drastic action to save the runners: she drove her SUV, a 2019 Chevy Tahoe, directly into Watts’ car. Schuck reportedly sustained multiple serious injuries from the collision and is currently recuperating from a concussion and other head wounds. Watts didn’t escape unscathed either and was hospitalized with injuries of her own, Fox13 reported.
The dashcam from Schuck’s vehicle showed the encounter, and was aired by Fox13:
Due to Schuck’s actions, all of the runners escaped injury, thankfully.
“There’s no telling what would have happened had that vehicle actually reached all of those runners. The bottom line is these troopers saved dozens upon dozens of lives and saved even more people from serious bodily harm injury,” Watson added, speaking of Schuck’s intervention.
Watts was considered sufficiently recovered to go before a judge on Monday, and simply said she was unemployed and living off the money from a lawsuit.
“Would you have any trouble coming to court?” the public defender asked her, prompting Watts to laugh.
“Considering I don’t have a car. I’ll have to fix that, I guess,” she said.
Due to the alcohol in her system, Watts has been charged with a DUI-serious injury, two counts of DUI-property damage, and two counts of reckless driving involving injury and property damage. Watts was then booked into the Manatee County Jail on a $52,000 bail.
Florida troopers stated that they don’t believe Watts was deliberately attempting to hit the runners, but rather was in a drunken stupor, as reflected by the lack of charges relating to attempted homicide, according to Fox13.
Schuck has received praise for her quick-thinking and decisive action, placing herself in the path of serious harm in order to protect the more vulnerable runners from what could have been a mass-casualty incident with multiple fatalities.
“For this trooper to risk her life to make sure that others will be okay is the epitome of what service is all about,” stated Watson.
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