Wrong-Way Driver Hit Deputy on Belleair Beach Causeway

When Pinellas County Sheriff’s Cpl. Kannika Nimithkoune spotted a Chevy Tahoe heading west in the eastbound lanes of the Belleair Causeway Wednesday morning, she tried to avoid a head-on collision.

Nimithkoune, however, couldn’t quite avoid the oncoming vehicle entirely, according to an email from the sheriff’s office. As she took evasive actions, the Tahoe struck the back driver’s side of Nimithkoune’s Crown Victoria, setting off a chain of events that would force the causeway’s closing in both directions for several hours.

After hitting the patrol car, the sheriff’s office said the Tahoe struck a concrete barrier and traveled northwest, hitting the front diver’s side of a Ford van that was heading east on the causeway. The van rotated, striking the front of a Dodge truck.

The Tahoe, driven by Mark Hindes, 33, then struck another concrete barrier wall before finally coming to rest in a westbound lane.

The van’s driver and the driver and passenger in the truck suffered non-life-threatening injuries and were taken to a local hospital for treatment following the crash that occurred just before 7 a.m. Nimithkoune was uninjured.

“Speed and/or impairment may be factors in the crash,” the department’s email stated.

The crash remains under investigation.

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