Crime & Safety
Hit-And-Run Crash Injures St. Pete Police Officer: Watch
The driver was arrested and faces charges after hitting a patrol vehicle pulled over for a traffic stop, St. Petersburg police said.
ST. PETERSBURG, FL — A driver faces charges related to a hit-and-run crash that injured a police officer conducting a traffic stop early Saturday morning on I-375, according to a St. Petersburg Police Department news release. (Watch bodycam footage from the crash below.)
Mackenzie Deaton, 24, hit the officer’s police vehicle around 1 a.m. as he was getting out of it during a traffic stop just west of the 5th Avenue North entrance ramp. The vehicle’s emergency lights were activated.
The officer suffered a minor injury to his hand and was brought to Bayfront Health.
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“Luckily, this officer was not severely injured,” the agency said.
Deaton failed to stop at the scene and kept driving west. Later that morning, her vehicle was found and she was taken into custody, police said.
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She was charged with serious bodily injury hit and run and tampering with evidence. Deaton also received citations, including failure to follow the Move Over Law.
Watch the officer’s bodycam footage from the crash:
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