Man In Trooper Hit & Run Crash Bond Out Of Jail
HALLANDALE BEACH (CBS4) -The man who police arrested in the Florida Highway Patrol trooper hit and run crash bonded out of jail Saturday.
Roberto Carmona Pena, 64, appeared at the Broward County jail before bonding out.
On Friday, Trooper Ted Menner was pinned in his car for more than half an hour when his car was hit from behind on I-95. Rescue crews had to cut the roof off to get him out. It happened, after investigators say, Pena's dump truck side swiped a Toyota – sending that car slamming into the trooper who was on the side of the road investigating an accident. The dump truck kept going – heading south to Miami.
Police say Pena was behind the wheel of that dump truck. He was caught after the wife of a Sweetwater police officer happened to see a media post on Facebook while talking to her husband on the phone.
"She notified him that there was a trooper involved in a crash, there was a hit and run vehicle, they were looking for a certain dump truck with a certain tag number," explained FHP Sgt. Mark Wysocky. "He was driving out on Tamiami Trail and observed the truck driving right in front of him."
Honking horns and a traffic mess backed up the interstate for miles in Hollywood after the crash.
"This is a nightmare, a complete nightmare," complained driver Gayle Jackson as she was forced to exit the interstate at Hollywood Blvd.
"I've never seen it this bad. I wouldn't wish it on my worst enemy," she said.
Pena was arrested and booked into the Miami-Dade county jail. Still in question though, did he realize he side swiped that car?
Although he never stopped – investigators say he acted as though nothing happened.
"He just continued with his day," said Sgt. Wysocky. "From what my understand is, he went and picked up a load of rock and then was out driving on Tamiami Trail."
Friends of Trooper Menner are hoping for the best – wondering – if the driver left on purpose. How he could do it, knowing someone who risks his life for others could have been seriously hurt.
"I was a bit disturbed at the notion that someone would generate an accident like this then drive away with out any concern what they've done, who they may have hurt," said Menner's friend Henry Paper.
Menner is expected to be ok. The driver of that Toyota was treated and released from the hospital with just a bruise from the seatbelt.
