Published on Monday, January 23, 2006
in the Miami Herald

Tragedy strikes again

A rookie Florida Highway Patrol trooper struck by a truck and seriously injured while conducting a traffic stop in Broward County on Sunday morning is the son of a trooper who was killed about 15 months ago while chasing a speeder.

About 7 a.m. Sunday, trooper Darryl Haywood Jr. had stopped a motorist heading south on Florida's Turnpike, just south of the Hollywood Boulevard exit, for a burned-out light.

Haywood was still in his patrol cruiser when it was rammed from behind by a 1994 Dodge pickup truck driven by Robert Frederick Dimmie Jr., 22, of Fort Lauderdale. Dimmie's truck had veered from the center lane onto the shoulder, highway patrol officials said.

The impact pushed the patrol car into the Hyundai he had pulled over, driven by Ratosha Washington, 27, of Miami, who escaped with minor injuries, troopers said.

It took rescue crews about 30 minutes to pull Haywood, 20, from his destroyed patrol car.

''The trunk was pretty much pushed into the back seat,'' FHP Lt. Roger Reyes said.

Haywood was flown to Ryder Trauma Center in Miami, where, Reyes said, doctors have indicated he is expected to recover from injuries.

Haywood's name is very familiar to troopers -- his father, Darryl Haywood Sr., was killed Oct. 2, 2004, when his cruiser crashed into a tree on Interstate 4 in Volusia County while he was trying to stop a speeding motorcyclist. The tire of the elder Haywood's cruiser blew out during the crash, which exceeded speeds of 100 mph.

The elder Haywood, a 20-year veteran of the New York Police Department, had worked for the highway patrol for four years.

Despite the danger of his father's profession, the younger Haywood entered the highway patrol's academy and was sworn in this past summer.

His mother, the elder Haywood's widow, said in a statement issued Sunday that ``it has only been a short time since Darryl's father, Trooper Darryl L. Haywood Sr., was tragically killed while on duty serving the citizens of Florida.''

Linda Sharpe-Haywood said in her statement that ``we would ask for the public to pray for Darryl and the others involved in the crash.''

After hitting the back of the younger Haywood's patrol car, Dimmie's truck flipped over. Dimmie was taken Memorial Regional Hospital in Hollywood with a minor injury, troopers said. A passenger in the pickup, Clunie Milhomme, 23, of Fort Lauderdale, was taken to Ryder Trauma Center with serious injuries.

All southbound lanes of the turnpike were shut down for about three hours.

Reyes said the crash is a reminder of why legislators passed the ''Move Over'' law, which went into effect more than three years ago. The law requires drivers on a highway to move a lane over when it is safe to do so if a police officer or emergency worker is on the side of the road. If they are not able to move over, drivers are supposed to slow down.

Dimmie could face charges from Sunday's accident pending the results of toxicology tests, highway patrol officials said.