Exclusive: Officer Run Over During Traffic Stop Shares Story
Police officer Zachary Mathews shares his story of being hit by a vehicle during a traffic stop.
By Greg Fox
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BELLE ISLE, Florida (WESH) — There were moments when Zachary Mathews wasn’t sure if he was partially paralyzed.
“I had less sensitivity in my right leg when I first got transported. I wasn’t able to feel it. So unfortunately it was kind of a weird feeling not being able to feel your leg, at all. I was relieved to know it wasn’t worse than it actually was,” Mathews told WESH 2 Investigates in an exclusive interview Tuesday.
The Belle Isle police officer, just a year on the job, was with Officer Christian Rodriguez last Wednesday morning, May 1, near Orlando International Airport. Mathews had pulled over an SUV towing a trailer, and the officers say the smell of marijuana had them ordering the driver, Carlos Jerome Miller, out.
Instead, Miller put up a fight.
Mathews said, “Once we were able to get him out of the vehicle he actually took off toward oncoming traffic. That’s when I took off and grabbed him to stop him from being hit by an oncoming vehicle. Then at that point, he actually shoved me backwards. After that I ended up on the ground.”
On the ground, while the SUV was in drive and moving ahead with the trailer coming right for Mathews, who continued, “When the tire went over on top of me the initial laying on the ground I was more on my side in between the trailer, and when it started moving that’s when the tire road on top of me. It was seconds, but it felt like a long time, but it was seconds before I was able to lift the trailer off.”
Exactly how he did that, he’s not sure. But he managed to get free and run to officer Rodriguez and help him secure Miller, before collapsing to wait for paramedics.
“(I had) a lot of adrenaline, and the thought in my mind that my partner was fighting somebody and giving him a run for his money at that point,” Mathews recalled.
Mathews was wearing what’s police sometimes call an “all-in-one.” It’s a vest that has body armor build in, and tactical gear storage across the front. It’s heavy, weighing about 27 pounds. Mathews said the fact that he was wearing this may have kept him from being more seriously hurt.
Now, Mathews has weeks of rehab to help his body heal from the trauma. He hopes to be back, at least on light duty, in the next month or so.
“For what happened, everything could be a lot worse, and I’m thankful that it wasn’t. In a lot of pain right now, but on track to make a full recovery,” he said.
Miller was taken into custody and faces multiple felony charges for the incident, which revealed he had a gun and a knife in the vehicle.
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