ST. JOHNS COUNTY, Fla. – Three people were seriously injured Tuesday morning when a car struck a Florida Highway Patrol cruiser stopped on Interstate 95 near International Golf Parkway.
According to the FHP, two women in a Hyundai lost control and struck the back of the FHP car just before 10 a.m. Trooper Ronald Roberts was inside his cruiser, having just worked a previous crash at that location.
The trooper and one of the victims from the car were taken to Baptist South, while a second victim from the car was taken to UF Health Jacksonville. None of the injuries were considered life-threatening.
A FHP spokesman said Roberts, who has been a trooper for 23 years, was sitting up and talking in the hospital. His condition was upgraded to fair.
"This is a prime example of the move-over law and why it's been implemented by our Florida lawmakers," FHP Sgt. Dylan Bryan said. "It's not only for the protection of the officers working the streets and highways, but also for the motoring public's safety."
For nearly two hours, southbound traffic was diverted onto International Golf Parkway, causing major backups. Late Tuesday morning, the FHP reported that an unrelated three-vehicle crash on I-95 near the first scene keep southbound traffic from returning to normal until after 12:30 p.m.
Earlier this year, a News4Jax investigation found the highest number of fatalities in the 15 states that I-95 passes through occur in Florida. Between April 2014 and April 2015, there were 1,713 reported crashes from the Florida-Georgia line to the Flagler-Volusia county line, and 25 people died. [Read full report]