Florida: Drug Suspect Killed After Ramming Police Car

Sometime after 6 p.m Thursday., undercover officers waved down a drug suspect to buy $60 worth of crack cocaine, JSO Director Mike Bruno said. Afterward, the suspect got in the undercover car and took officers to the Mayfair Village Apartments to buy the drugs. After telling the undercover officers the narcotics he had would not be worth purchasing, the suspect retrieved drugs from Larosa, who was driving car reported stolen earlier in the day, according to the sheriff's office.

That's when police gave the "take down" signal and police pulled up to arrest the suspects, Bruno said. Larosa tried to back out and rammed a police car parked behind him. Then he accelerated toward Sgt. D.R. White standing on the sidewalk, knocking him into the air, before driving away, according to police. White landed on his head and police thought he was dead at the scene, Bruno said.

White, a 24 year veteran of the sheriff's office, was taken to a hospital with serious injuries. UF Health told First Coast News the officer is recovering in fair condition.

Afterward, the driver crashed into five cars parked at the complex before eventually slamming into the outside stairwell of the apartment building, Bruno said.

"We had an attempted murder of a police officer," Bruno said Friday afternoon.