DUI Driver Ignored Skyway Bridge Roadblock, Crashed Into FL Trooper During 10K Race: FHP

MANATEE COUNTY, FL — A 52-year-old Sarasota woman careened past road closures in place during a 10K race on the Sunshine Skyway Bridge Sunday morning, crashing into a state trooper trying to prevent her from driving into runners, Florida Highway Patrol said in a news release.

The annual Skyway 10K Bridge Run, held the first Sunday in March, raises funds for the Armed Forces Families Foundation.

Around 8:45 a.m., Kristen Kay Watts, who was driving a BMW, was speeding as she headed north on I-275. When she reached the road closures for the 10K race, she ignored them, failing to stop or detour onto U.S. 41 as directed, FHP said. Instead, she drove through traffic cones and around other barricades.

State officers tried to pull her over for a traffic stop, but she continued onto S.R. 93 and drove through the toll plaza, refusing to stop for two Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission officers guarding the area, troopers said.

After this, two state troopers responded southbound in the northbound lanes of S.R. 93 from the south rest area, stopping in the travel lanes to intercept Watts and to “protect the thousands afoot on the Skyway bridge,” FHP said.

Watts crashed “nearly head-on” with one of the troopers, a 47-year-old Tampa woman driving a Chevy Tahoe. Both were seriously injured in the collision and brought to a nearby hospital, FHP said. The northbound lanes of S.R. 93 were closed for several hours on Sunday.

Watts was later arrested and charged with DUI causing serious bodily injury, FHP said.