For police officers, even the most mundane of duties carries the risk that it can escalate into violence. That is what happened to Florida Highway Patrol trooper John Paikai on Tuesday. Paikai attempted to execute a routine traffic stop after Robert Swank ran a red light in Avon Park. The officer was most likely just planning on writing a traffic ticket to the Florida driver but that’s when things took a deadly turn according to an Associated Press story on the Bradenton Herald Tribune website.
After Paikai pulled Swank over he exited his cruiser and began to approach Swank’s car. At that point the 37-year-old struck the officer with his car. In order to stop the assault Paikai fired his weapon and shot and killed the car’s passenger, 33-year-old Amber Gregory. Paikai was taken to the hospital and an investigation is under way.
If you have a traffic ticket anywhere in Florida, please don’t do something you will regret or get anyone hurt. Just contact Florida Traffic Attorney David Haenel at 1-800-FIGHT-IT (1-800-344-4848) to discuss the matter or visit our website fightyourticket.com. Also you can contact David via email.