Hummer crashes into police cruiser

By CASEY CORA
Published July 21, 2007

A driver crashed his 2003 Hummer into a police cruiser early Friday, landing the officer in the hospital and the driver in jail.

Sgt. C.L. Ugles was stopped in the left turn lane of N Dale Mabry Highway, waiting to enter an on-ramp toward northbound Interstate 275 around 2:45 a.m. William T. Harris was stopped in a car next to him.

That's when Stacy B. Smith, 39, driving a Hummer, exited the interstate. Smith ran the stop sign at the bottom of the off-ramp, crossed three lanes of traffic and struck the passenger side of Ugles' cruiser, which then struck Harris' vehicle, police said.

The cruiser was totaled, they said. Ugles was transported to Tampa General Hospital with injuries that weren't life-threatening.

Smith, who is from Orange Park, was arrested on a drunken-driving charge. Jail logs show his blood-alcohol level was 0.162 in one test and 0.166 in another. Florida law presumes impairment at a level of 0.08.

Though this appears to be Smith's most literal run-in with the law, it is not the first time he has driven while impaired. In 1996, he was found guilty and fined $500 for driving while intoxicated.

[Last modified July 20, 2007, 23:40:46]