MARTIN COUNTY, Fla. — The Martin County Sheriff’s Office said a traffic deputy was investigating a crash when his marked patrol vehicle was struck by an unlicensed driver.
The crash happened over the weekend along SE 47th Avenue and SE Field Street. Authorities said the deputy was investigating a crash, where an unlicensed driver hit a child on a bicycle. According to deputies, as he was questioning that driver, 49-year old Amelia Mericel Miranda De La Rosa, a second unlicensed driver in a Ford F-250, crashed into the back of the marked patrol SUV.
The child in the first crash was airlifted to the hospital and is expected to recover.
Deputies charged De La Rosa with driving without a license. They said this is her second such charge in two years.
Investigators said the driver who hit the deputy’s vehicle, 29-year old Angel Palesio-Monson, told deputies he didn’t see the marked patrol car or the parking lights. Palesio-Monson said he was returning home from a roofing job in Wellington where he cut his finger.
According to authorities, he told the deputy he had two beers to help him cope with the pain. Palesio-Monson said he has never had a driver’s license, deputy said. He was transported to the hospital and treated for the cut to his finger.
Palesio-Monson was charged with driving without a license. DUI with property damage charges are pending.
