Video shows car atop Florida deputy’s hand — and his calm response. ‘Move this car’

A Florida sheriff’s deputy kept his cool under bizarre circumstances when a roadside crash left a car atop four of his fingers, body camera video shows.

It happened around 11:30 p.m. Saturday, Nov. 30, near Fort Pierce North, and video reveals the St. Lucie County Sheriff’s Office deputy didn’t scream in pain or call out for help.

Instead, he made a very sensible request: “Hey, move this car forward.”

The deputy, who was not identified, suffered cuts to his fingers and knuckles, the video shows.

He was one of three law law enforcement officers (two men and a woman) injured when a suspected drunk driver collided with a felony traffic stop in progress, according to the Florida Highway Patrol.

That driver, 41-year-old Perry Peables, was traveling north on U.S. 1 when his Toyota Sequoia hit the rear of a St. Lucie County patrol SUV, causing a chain reaction that included another county patrol car and a Fort Pierce Police Department vehicle, state troopers say.

The impact was powerful enough to send one of the SUVs down an embankment, video shows.

All three injured law enforcement officers, ages 26, 29 and 32, were standing outside their vehicles when the crash happened, officials say. One deputy and a police officer were taken to a hospital “with serious but non-life threatening injures,” St. Lucie County Sheriff Keith Pearson said in a Facebook post.

The suspect, who lives in Vero Beach, was arrested on a charge of driving under the influence, the Florida Highway Patrol said.

Investigators say the vehicle involved in the initial felony traffic stop was not hit.

Fort Pierce North is about a 120-mile drive southeast from Orlando.

This story was originally published December 2, 2024 at 2:28 PM with the headline "Video shows car atop Florida deputy’s hand — and his calm response. ‘Move this car’."