A Volusia sheriff’s deputy and his police dog escaped injury when he crashed his patrol car into a retention pond near Daytona Beach after running off a ramp on Interstate 95 while speeding at 92 mph, Sheriff Mike Chitwood said in a media briefing July 7.
“From what the video looks like, he was driving like an idiot,” Chitwood said.
The sheriff’s office did not immediately respond to a News-Journal’s request for the dashboard video the agency shared with other media outlets.
This is the second Volusia sheriff’s deputy to find themselves in hot water two days in a row this week.
On July 6, a sheriff’s sergeant, Jason Stickels, 44, was arrested after he tried to kiss a 71-year-old woman and choke her husband at a New Smyrna Beach bar, his arrest report states.
Chitwood did not name the deputy in the latest incident, but after getting his identity from other sources, a reporter asked the Florida Highway Patrol, who worked the crash, to confirm the name given to The News-Journal.
FHP confirmed that the deputy that splashed into the retention pond with his marked Ford Explorer is Deputy Greg Ingram. In February, the sheriff’s office posted a Facebook photo of Ingram and his K-9 partner, Goose, when he was presented with a custom-made quilt by the K9 Quilt of Honor organization.
Volusia deputy traveling 92 mph when he ran into pond near Daytona Beach, sheriff says
The accident that sent the deputy and K-9 into the retention pond occurred July 7 on the U.S. 92 ramp that merges into Interstate 95, Chitwood said.
Chitwood said that the video of the incident showed traffic going at the speed limit and then the deputy’s patrol car is seen speeding by.
“You see the sheriff’s deputy vehicle just go flying on the lane and the next thing you see is a big splash of water,” Chitwood said.
It was not immediately clear July 8 if the deputy was headed to a call. Video shows that the patrol car’s lights weren’t on before the crash.
The patrol vehicle was totaled but neither the deputy nor his police dog were injured, the sheriff said.
“Preliminary investigation shows he was probably doing 92 mph. So, you can take from there what’s about to come down,” Chitwood said.
Volusia deputy’s patrol car partially submerged in pond, troopers said
The Florida Highway Patrol said the marked Ford Explorer was traveling south on I-95 and was getting off the highway and on the ramp to U.S 92 when the crash occurred.
The Ford Explorer’s front end collided with approximately five traffic control delineators and continued traveling in a southern direction and entered a small retention pond where it partially submerged, troopers said.
Troopers said the deputy-involved crash into the pond is under investigation.
― Patricio G. Balona is a crime and public safety reporter covering Volusia County and occasionally Flagler County. His coverage areas include Daytona Beach, DeLand, Ormond Beach, and beyond.
This article originally appeared on The Daytona Beach News-Journal: Volusia deputy on I-95 off-ramp crashes into pond, sheriff says
Reporting by Patricio G. Balona, Daytona Beach News-Journal / The Daytona Beach News-Journal
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
By Patricio G. Balona, Daytona Beach News-Journal | USA TODAY Network
