MANATEE COUNTY – Manatee County is honoring the Florida Highway Patrol Trooper who put herself in harms way to protect thousands of runners on the Skyway Bridge from a DUI driver last month.
“I’m glad it was me and no one else got hurt,” said Florida Highway Patrol Trooper Toni Schuck.
Manatee County commissioners have proclaimed March 22 as Trooper Toni Schuck Day. Trooper Schuck drover her patrol car into the path of a drunk driver to prevent her from getting on the Skyway Bridge where thousands were running a 10k on March 6th.
“Trooper Schuck acted incredibly bravely, incredibly selflessly, literally put her life at risk to save hundreds of thousands of people that were in danger, many of those people, manatee county residents and I thought that it was incredibly important that we recognize her as the hometown hero that she is,” said Manatee County Commissioner, Kevin Van Ostenbridge.
The 26-year-old veteran of the Florida Highway Patrol was also given a key to the City of Bradenton.
“Just looking at her now, and seeing the humility that comes out, she did this because she loves what she does and what she does for us,” said Mayor of The City of Bradenton, Gene Brown.
Trooper Schuck was the last line of defense for the runners.
“I just thank you, from the bottom of my heart thank you,” said Manatee County Commissioner, Vanessa Baugh.
Both the suspect and Trooper Schuck were seriously injured in the nearly head on collision.
“The outcome that happened wasn’t the outcome that I had hoped, I was predicting a different one in my head that morning, but I’m glad she didn’t get passed,” said Trooper Schuck.
Troopers say 52-year-old Kristen Kay Watts was behind the wheel of the vehicle that hit Trooper Schuck.
“You can teach many things in law enforcement, our officers are trained to do many great things to save lives everyday but courage and bravery aren’t things that you can train,” said Florida Highway Patrol, Chief Jeff Dixon.
The Sarasota woman was arrested on multiple DUI-related charges.
