A Santa Rosa County cop is recovering after being struck by a vehicle driven by Cody Aaron Hobbs, 25, of Jay. Hobbs was booked May 2 into Santa Rosa County Jail on multiple charges, including DUI, aggravated battery on a law enforcement officer and hit and run.
Santa Rosa County Deputy Brian Middleton observed Hobbs, the sole occupant of a Ford Sports Trac, travel off the roadway and collide with a street sign in the vicinity of 3490 Mahogany Drive in Milton.
Following the collision, Hobbs drove his vehicle, striking Deputy Middleton, who was standing on the driver’s side of his marked patrol vehicle.
FHP responded to a crash in the vicinity of Archie’s Way and Chumuckla Highway. Upon arrival, the state trooper observed a marked Santa Rosa County Patrol vehicle with damage to the driver and the Sports Trac, which had damage to the front driver side corner.
Middleton advised the trooper that he had observed the Sport Trac pass in a no passing zone and attempted a traffic stop, but the vehicle being driven by Hobbs failed to stop and traveled off the roadway in the vicinity of Mahogany Drive, colliding with a street sign.
The trooper observed an open beer, smelled a “strong odor of an alcoholic beverage” and continued to smell an alcoholic beverage when speaking with Hobbs, who he reported as slumped over and impaired.
A Standard Field Sobriety Exercise was performed. “Based on my training, experience, and due to Hobbs’s poor performance on (the sobriety test), I believed him to be under the influence of some unknown substance,” stated the trooper in his report.
Hobbs was arrested for DUI. While at the Santa Rosa County Jail, he agreed to a lawful test of his breath and urine. Per FHP, Hobbs’s BrAC results were .157 and .158.
DUI, DUI property damage, resisting an officer without violence, criminal mischief – property damage, aggravated battery on a law enforcement officer and hit and run.
Hobbs was issued a $73,000 bond and remains behind bars.
