MANATEE COUNTY (WSNN) – It was an act of a true hero. When a drunk driver zoomed past all the checkpoints at the Skyway 10k over the weekend, Trooper Toni Schuck put her life in danger to protect thousands of lives.
“It’s hard because I’ve done this for 26 years and I’ve never been in this position where,” Schuck said. “I’ve never been in this position where I’ve had to put myself for somebody else.”
52-year-old Kristen Watts was driving a sedan when she flew past all the officers blocking the roadway, traveling northbound from U.S. 41 onto the Skyway bridge.
“In my mind, I’m thinking she’s going to stop,” Schuck said.
“She was going at a very high rate of speed so they couldn’t catch up to her,” FHP Trooper Sgt. Steve Gaskins said.
Watts was headed straight for the runners.
“I was the last officer, I knew it was me,” Schuck said. “If it wasn’t me to get her to stop then who, I don’t know.”
At the time, Trooper Shuck was located halfway between the rest area and the toll plaza, about 500 yards south of the entrance of the race.
“At that point, there were still probably a couple of thousand people on the bridge,” Skyway 10k Spokesperson James Judge said.
Schuck acted on instinct not thinking twice about the danger she was putting herself in.
“I feel that what I did, I had to do, I didn’t want to do, but I had to do it,” Schuck said.
She says her truck and guardian angel saved her that day.
“It was a larger truck. The safety features that that truck has,” Schuck said. “And I also think I had a guardian angel with me.”
On her way to the hospital, Schuck saw the tragedy that could have been.
“I saw people still there, and it really overwhelmed me,” Schuck said. “I’m thankful it was me, I’m thankful that she didn’t get past me.”
A crash that she says replays in her mind every single day.
“I don’t know how I could feel or if I could continue on in law enforcement if she had gotten past me and somebody had gotten hurt,” Schuck said.
“I’m happy with the ending that we had, cause I know how much worse it could have been,” Gaskins said.
Schuck comes from a family of service, and she knows this is what she was meant to do.
“It’s in our blood, it’s in our hearts,” Schuck said.
Trooper Schuck says she plans to get behind the wheel again to protect and serve others.
