Free Republic

Up to 1,000 Florida National Guard troops will be sent to the Texas border to stop the influx of migrants, Gov. Ron DeSantis announced Thursday morning. The soldiers will be deployed “based on Texas’ needs,” according to a press release on the Florida governor’s website. The Florida State Guard will also be sent to Texas to support Gov. Greg Abbott’s effort to repel migrants at the border — which is the first time the group has been deployed out of state, the release noted. These deployments are in addition to officers from the Florida Highway Patrol, Florida Fish and Wildlife...

NAPLES, Fla. — A Bradenton man with a violent history has been arrested after it was revealed he has 21 outstanding warrants in three Florida counties. Around 1:30 p.m. on February 2nd, Florida Highway Patrol Troopers initiated a traffic stop on a Nissan. The vehicle was pulled over on I-75 near Mile Marker 98 in Collier County. According to the arrest report, Troopers found 1,500 tablets of Alprazolam, sold under the brand name Xanax, and two grams of marijuana. The driver of the vehicle, 29-year-old Yasmin Nicole Forester, was arrested and faces three possession charges. The vehicle’s passenger initially gave...

Link only due to possible copyright issues. In any case the video is at the link and it's worth seeing.

ORLANDO, Fla. — Temporarily blinded Saturday morning by a laser pointed at him from 1,000 feet below, a Florida Highway Patrol pilot alerted other aircraft about the flying hazard then landed his plane and began an investigation that led to the arrest of a Kissimmee man at a multi-story construction site. Guillermo Negron Roque, 47, was jailed pending a charge of pointing a laser light at a pilot, a second-degree felony. The bright flash of green light startled FHP pilot J.C. Pollock as he was flying west of Interstate 4 about 6:30 a.m. “At first I thought I was about...

Florida Highway Patrol troopers only meant to write a simple citation, but it quickly turned into a felony arrest after they found $1.2 million worth of cocaine. Troopers pulled over 27-year-old Elizabeth Espinoza on Tuesday afternoon after observing illegal window tint on her vehicle on Interstate 75 southbound. Troopers noticed she was acting exceedingly nervous, which stood out because of the innocuous nature of the stop.

LAKE BUENA VISTA, Fla. -- Troopers said they were called to the Animal Kingdom at Walt Disney World on Tuesday morning for a custody fight that ended in the theme park's parking lot. The Florida Highway Patrol said a father from New York followed his ex-wife and child, who he claimed he has not seen in two years, to the theme park. The man followed the two into the Animal Kingdom parking lot. Troopers said they are trying to sort out the paperwork and custodial issue.

ORLANDO, Fla. -- The Florida Highway Patrol was flooded with e-mails criticizing their handling of the investigation of the crash involving golfer Tiger Woods that led to him admitting to extramarital affairs. A review by the Orlando Sentinel found that the highway patrol and its umbrella agency, the Florida Department of Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles, got more than 400 e-mails in the days after the November crash outside Woods' home near Orlando. Many of the e-mails accused the highway patrol of doing shoddy work and of treating Woods more like a celebrity than a suspect. A small percentage of...

Suspected trooper killer has violent past Twice arrested as a juvenile KEVIN J. SHUTT LAKE PLACID, Fla. - Police arrested a Sebring man Saturday for the shooting death of Florida Highway Patrol Sgt. Nicholas Sottile. Probable cause affidavits released Saturday afternoon revealed that the suspect allegedly told his passenger he would shoot the trooper, then solicited a friend to help him hide the car. Joshua Lee Altersberger, 19, allegedly shot 48-year-old Sottile in the neck Friday afternoon when the trooper pulled him over for reckless driving on U.S. 27 north near Cloverleaf Road, FHP director Col. Christopher A. Knight said...