PASCO COUNTY, Fla. — A Dade City man was arrested for drunk driving after smashing into a Florida Highway Patrol (FHP) car on Sunday.
Elmer Perez Ramirez, 23, was charged with DUI and no valid driver’s license after the crash, which occurred at about 2:14 a.m. in Wesley Chapel.
According to an FHP report, Trooper Robert Snyder was investigating a traffic crash on southbound Interstate 75, approximately about one mile south of State Road 54.
Snyder was parked within a safety zone created by orange safety cones, with two Road Rangers present with emergency lights activated. There also were two additional marked FHP patrol units with emergency lights activated.
Ramirez’s vehicle, traveling southbound in the middle lane, failed to stay in that lane, and the front left of the vehicle sideswiped the right side of Trooper Snyder’s patrol vehicle, the report stated.
When being questioned, Ramirez, who said he was on his way to Sarasota from Dade City, had “slurred speech, bloodshot water eyes” and “a strong odor of alcoholic beverage emitting from his breath when he spoke,” the report stated.
He was taken to the Pasco County Jail, where his blood-alcohol content (BAC) was registered at 0.194. The legal limit in Florida is 0.08.
Neither the trooper nor the road rangers were injured in the crash.
Tropical Storm Milton is forecast to be a Category 3 hurricane at landfall with Florida's west coast.
ABC Action News Chief Meteorologist Denis Phillips discusses the potential impacts on Tampa Bay.
