Yesterday morning's incident on Interstate 95 in Volusia County could have easily turned deadly when an SUV veered off the roadway, narrowly missing law enforcement officers. According to the Volusia County Sheriff's Office, the near miss occurred as officers responded to an earlier car versus deer collision. A sergeant from the Veterans Service Organization and a Florida Highway Patrol trooper were on the scene when the SUV collided with the VSO patrol vehicle, smashed into the back of the car that had been involved in the initial collision with the deer, and then spun back onto the interstate before it finally came to a halt.
In the aftermath, no serious injuries were reported. A deputy is heard in a video posted by the sheriff’s office, exclaiming "Jesus Christ!" as the SUV nearly hit him and the trooper. "My life flashed before my damn eyes right there," the deputy later said, according to a ClickOrlando interview. The scene's intensity was further conveyed by the deputy's acknowledgment of the rumble strips that alerted him to danger: "If those rumble strips weren't there, I would have been dead," he stated.
Law enforcement officials have used this incident to underscore the importance of Florida's "Move Over" law. This statute requires drivers to change lanes or slow down to provide a safe distance for stopped emergency and service vehicles, a detail emphasized by FOX 35 Orlando in their reporting on the near miss. The Volusia County Sheriff's Office declared the situation "a split second away from tragedy," urging motorists to stay alert for emergency lights and move over for first responders.
