The Miami-Dade Sheriff’s deputy who was hit by a car on the Florida Turnpike last week while helping the Florida Highway Patrol with a vehicle crash is on a steady road to recovery, the county agency said. Deputy Leonard Cantave was responding to a crash on Dec. 27 in which several marked law enforcement vehicles with emergency lights were blocking lanes to secure the scene. Lonnel Duwayne Brinson, 28, of Miramar, drove a 2019 Mazda CX5 into the active crash scene without slowing down, according to his arrest affidavit.
Cantave was hit, “vaulted into the air” and landed on the road, the arrest affidavit said.
Cantave was airlifted to HCA Florida Kendall Hospital, where he underwent surgery. On Thursday, the sheriff’s office announced that Cantave “has been breathing on his own, and is awake, alert, and recognizing family members and friends.” Court records show that Brinson has since bonded out of jail and is set to be arraigned on Feb. 25. “We ask that the public continue to keep him [Cantave] in their thoughts as he focuses on healing,” the sheriff’s office said in a statement.