Driver Hydroplanes, Crashes Into State Trooper: FHP

MANATEE COUNTY, FL — A Bradenton man lost control of his car while driving on I-75 and crashed into a state trooper vehicle and a construction pickup truck parked side-by-side in the shoulder on Wednesday morning, Florida Highway Patrol said in a news release.

The 20-year-old driver was in the highway’s left lane in a construction zone near mile marker 216 in Manatee County when the crash happened, troopers said. He lost control when his car hydroplaned and rotated on the wet roadway, causing him to hit the rear end of the state trooper’s marked Dodge Charger. The force from this crash pushed the state trooper’s vehicle into the pick-up truck.

The Bradenton man’s car came to a stop in a diagonal position across I-75’s southbound lanes. The state trooper’s car was pushed 50 feet forward before stopping in the southbound paved shoulder. The pick-up truck remained in its original spot in the shoulder.