A state trooper from Florida is being hailed as a hero after saving dozens of life from a speeding drunk driver on Sunday.
According to the Florida Highway Patrol, 52-year-old Kristen Kay Watts was driving her BMW at an “excessive rate of speed” on I-275, threatening to crash into people running the Armed Forces Skyway 10K Race on the south end of the Sunshine Skyway Bridge in St. Petersburg, Florida.
“This driver had blown past several checkpoints, going around traffic cones, going around other officers and had engaged in high speeds,” said Trooper Ken Watson.
Instead, 47-year-old Master Trooper Toni Schuck maneuvered her car to block the speeding motorist to save the runners. Watts crashed into Trooper Schuck’s patrol car.
Both women were injured in the high-speed collision and were taken to a local hospital for treatment of their injuries. Since then, Schuck has been released from the hospital and is healing from a concussion and a head wound.
For her quick response that prevented a potential tragedy, Trooper Schuck, who has worked in law enforcement for 26 years, received praise from the community. Watson said that Watts risked the lives of more than 7,000 people running the charity race with her reckless driving.
“There’s no telling what would have happened had that vehicle actually reached all of those runners. The bottom line is these troopers saved dozens upon dozens of lives and saved even more people from serious bodily harm injury,” said Watson. “For this trooper to risk her life to make sure that others will be okay is the epitome of what service is all about.”
Watts was brought into court on Monday where she was charged with DUI-serious injury, two counts of DUI-property damage, and two counts of DUI damage to property or person of another, along with a $52,000 bond.
During her court appearance, Watts told the court that she was unemployed and living on money from a lawsuit.
Police said that they didn’t believe that Watts was purposely trying to crash into the runners. Luckily, none of the runners were reportedly injured from the incident.
