Man Arrested After Crash Involving Lake County Deputy

POSTED: 1:27 pm EDT August 3, 2008


LAKE COUNTY, Fla. -- A Lake County Sheriff's deputy escaped serious injury Sunday morning after his cruiser was hit by another driver near Paisley. After the crash, residents near the scene saw a man who had hit Deputy John Caston had fled the scene on foot.

The accident happened around 2:15am at the intersection of Lake Street and Bouganvilla Avenue.

Deputy Caston was able to call into the sheriff's communications center to say he had been injured in a crash.

When deputies and rescue personnel arrived, they found that Caston ahd suffered lacerations to is head and arms.

After residents told deputies about the fleeing driver, a woman came forward and said the man was her boyfriend and identified him as Arturo Zapata. She said he fled because he was scared.

After bloodhounds were brought in, Zapata was tracked down in a wooded area and taken into custody.

Deputies learned that Zapata was an undocumented immigrant.

Caston was taken to Florida Hospital DeLand where he was treated and released


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