Dramatic video shows a Florida deputy from the Pasco County Sheriff's Office being struck by vehicle while he and another deputy were working a traffic crash on Tuesday.
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They responded to a minor traffic crash at State Road 52 and Hays Road to help people in three cars.
Shortly after that, a pickup truck could be seen turning into the path of another truck, causing them to collide and sending the vehicles barreling into the first crash.
Only one of the deputies was hit by the vehicles and was injured. The other deputy was barely missed and continued to make sure the person involved in the crash received care.
"The video doesn’t do it justice. The car hit me so hard it took my breath away,” said Amanda Helmick, who stopped with her children to help those involved in the first crash. “When I looked up the truck ran through the light. The other truck hit it. And we had no time to go any where.”
Helmick hit the ground hard and so did Deputy Peter Knorr.
“After we got hit and I fell to the ground. I didn’t see anything," Helmick said.
Helmick is OK but is bruised up, including marks on her face from where Knorr’s boot hit somehow hit her during the fall.
Knorr is at home with an injured hand.
Deputy Andrey Damian somehow missed getting hit at all. It was just his second day on the job.
"It happened so fast. There was no way to avoid it," said Damian.
Helmick said all she could think about was her children who were waiting in their van. They saw everything happen. You could even hear her daughter screaming, "Mom!" But Helmlik said there are no regrets.
“I would do it all over again. No matter what,” she said.
The Florida Highway Patrol said one person from the first crash received a ticket for a right of way violation. And the driver of that truck in the second crash will receive one too.
Pasco County Sheriff's Office urges drivers to slow down, especially on wet roads and near traffic crashes.
