TAMPA, Fla. (WSVN) — A collision was captured on camera and sparked concern after a Tampa Police cruiser collided with another vehicle, leaving the driver stranded and unattended at the scene.
Video footage showed the police cruiser approaching a stop sign, but instead of halting, it proceeded to turn right, directly into the path of Jake Perrin’s Toyota Corolla. Then the officer flips his lights and sirens on as if he’s heading to an emergency.
Perrin recounted the moments in an interview.
“It just felt like a push, a push forward, a pretty hard impact,” he said. “He hit me and then he pulled around me abruptly, rushed down the road, put his lights on, drove very fast up towards Martin Luther King and turned down the road and never saw him come back.”
The incident, which occurred on March 9, has raised questions about the conduct of the officer involved and whether department protocols were followed.
According to department policy, employees driving city vehicles are supposed to stop if they are involved in a crash, except in cases of emergencies.
Perrin called the police non-emergency line right after the crash to report it. When officers responded, he said they told him the officer was trying to get to an officer-involved shooting that night. A department spokesperson later said they did not have a report of an officer-involved shooting that night.
“I thought it was very unfortunate and very shocking to me,” said Perrin. “I’m a big supporter of the police so it was very sad and shocking to see that.”
While the damage is relatively minor, Perrin said he’s mostly just disappointed an officer wouldn’t stop to check to make sure everyone was OK.
“I would just like to, maybe see the officer held accountable somehow,” he said.
An internal investigation is underway. Perrin said his insurance company is working with the Tampa Police Department to fix his car.
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