CRESTVIEW, Fla., Feb. 28, 2022—A Florida Highway Patrol trooper was seriously injured in a traffic accident on Interstate 10 today.

He was transported to Fort Walton Medical Center where he is in good spirits, according to an FHP news release.

The incident occurred as the trooper was sitting in his patrol car on the eastbound side of the interstate near mile marker 54 around 11:15 a.m.

Spotting an apparently abandoned GMC Yukon on the highway shoulder, the trooper activated his emergency lights and pulled behind the SUV, according to the release.

As he was running a check on the vehicle, an eastbound box truck belonging to Guerra Tree Farm Nursery in Pensacola sideswiped the trooper’s patrol car and the SUV.

Eastbound I-10 traffic was backed up for two miles for nearly four hours as traffic was whittled down to one through lane as emergency personnel responded to the accident and conducted an investigation into the crash.

Charges are pending for the Pensacola box truck driver.