TAMPA, Fla. (WFLA) — The Florida Highway Patrol shared another video showing the moment a trooper risked her life to save a group of runners from a suspected drunken driver on the Sunshine Skyway Bridge.
Trooper Toni Schuck crashed her patrol SUV into a woman’s vehicle to stop it from hitting runners participating in the Skyway 10k on Sunday morning.
“I was the last officer, I knew that, I knew it was me,” Schuck said at press conference Thursday. “If it wasn’t me to get her to stop, then who? I don’t know.”
On Monday, the Highway Patrol released dash cam video showing the two vehicles collide. On Thursday, they released additional video that shows Schuck steer into the driver and her airbags deploy.
“I honestly did not think it was going to end the way it did,” Schuck told reporters. “I thought she was going to stop.”
The other driver, Kristen Kay Watts, 52, of Sarasota is facing multiple DUI-related charges and remains in the Manatee County Jail Friday.
Schuck is recovering from her injuries at home.
“The Florida Highway Patrol applauds the actions of Trooper Toni Schuck, a 26 year veteran of the Patrol who, as the last line of defense to the Skyway 10K runners, placed herself in harm’s way to protect others,” a FHP representative said.
