FLORIDA DEPUTY INJURED IN HIT AND RUN WHILE PUSHING CAR OFF ROAD

A Brevard County deputy was injured in a hit and run crash Tuesday afternoon. The deputy was trying to help push a car off the road near the Pineda Causeway and A-1-A near Patrick Air Force Base. Deputy Victor Valez was in a lot of pain, but was expected to be fine. He was taken to Holmes Regional Medical Center to be looked over.

Valez was on his way home from his shift at the Port and came across a blue SUV, which ran out of gas in the right hand turn lane on A-1-A. Authorities said he was trying to help the owner push the SUV out of the lane and onto a triangle of grass when a car came by and sideswiped him, knocking him to the ground.

The car or truck then kept going. There were a couple other people in the area at the time, but nobody could tell which vehicle it was that hit the deputy.

Authorities said it wasn't just a brush; the car hit the deputy hard and the driver had to know they hit someone, but no one knows what the vehicle looks like.

There were no cameras to catch any images of the driver. Deputies said Valez did have his lights on and whoever hit him violated the Move Over Law, which requires drivers to move over one lane and slow down whenever they see officers on the side of the road.