ORANGE COUNTY, Fla. – The Florida Highway Patrol released dramatic video Wednesday that shows the moment a driver slammed into the back of a trooper’s car.
On Sept. 22, Sgt. Liam Chambers had just parked in the grassy median on the southbound side of the Florida Turnpike to provide security for a construction crew when a 23-year old driver rear-ended him.
“I heard the skidding,” Sgt. Chambers said, adding it all happened in seconds. “It felt like longer, I guess time slowed down at that point, but you can hear the skidding prior to being hit.”
FHP released the video of the crash from three different angles recorded by cameras on Chambers patrol car. The recording goes back 30 seconds before impact. From the rearview, you can see the headlights veer off the road and onto the shoulder coming closer as the tires screech.
From the front of the car, you can see how Chambers’ patrol car spun in a circle and from inside, you can see Chambers, disoriented, reach for his radio as construction crew rushed to help him.
“At the time I was thinking ‘Where am I?’” Chambers said. “The impact of the crash broke the laptop free of the stand and during the course of the crash as everything was going on, it came up and hit me in the head.”
Chambers said he suffered a concussion and three herniated discs in his neck and back. He was on his way to physical therapy after speaking with News 6 Wednesday. According to the crash report, the 23-year-old driver was cited for careless driving after veering off the roadway.
“I was shocked, I knew it was a hard hit, the video really showed it was,” Chambers said. “It was another one of those moments, I hadn’t anticipated it hitting me like it did, watching it back.”
FHP released the video during what is known as “Move Over Month,” a campaign to remind drivers of the 2015 law to “Move Over or Get Pulled Over." According to the latest Florida statistics, there have been 953 crashes since the law took effect in 2015, two of which resulted in fatalities.
“For viewers and any of their families just pay attention, slow down, move over, if you can’t move over slow down 20 mph under the limit and pay attention,” Chambers said.
Looking back and watching the videos he's grateful to have survived the crash.
“I feel lucky at the fact I’m alive,” he said.