Hit-and-run driver was shopping online when she struck sheriff on bike, officials allege
03/19/2021 12:11 pm PDT
PORT ORANGE, Fla. (TCD) --
Officials say a Florida woman who was reportedly shopping online while driving struck a county sheriff who was riding his bike Thursday and allegedly left the scene. She was later arrested for hit and run.
Volusia County Sheriff Mike Chitwood was struck by a vehicle while he was riding a bicycle in the area of Town West Blvd. and Daylily Street at about 4:30 p.m. Thursday, according to the sheriff’s office. Chitwood was hospitalized with minor injuries.
“I have some road rash, a few stitches on the gash from the passenger side mirror and a fractured fibula that the doctors hope will heal on its own,” Sheriff Chitwood said in a Facebook post Friday.
“The young lady who hit me is in custody on a charge of leaving the scene of an accident with serious bodily injury. She says she was shopping on Amazon on her phone when she hit me. Please let this be a warning to put your phones down while you’re driving before you kill someone,” Chitwood said.
Paige Bergman, 20, was charged with leaving the scene of an accident with serious bodily injury.
Deputies found Bergman in her car in her family’s driveway where she was recorded during her arrest claiming she had hit a mailbox, the Associated Press reports.
Video of the scene was recorded from a waste disposal services truck.
“To Allen Ramos, the Waste Pro truck driver who witnessed the crash, got it on video and pulled over to give me a hand: I will never forget what you did for me. There were several others who pulled over to help, too, and I appreciate each and every one of you,” Chitwood said.
WKMG reports Thursday’s crash comes nearly four years after Chitwood was injured in a bicycle crash in Ponce Inlet in which he suffered a broken hand and an ACL injury in that crash after he was struck by a Chevrolet Silverado pickup truck.
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