Longboat police cruiser damaged in hit-and-run could be salvaged, police say

A Longboat Key police cruiser thought to be a total loss after a hit-and-run two weeks ago could be salvaged,  Police Chief Pete Cumming said.

A flatbed truck hauled Longboat Police’s damaged 2017 Ford Explorer to Bartow Ford in Bartow, Fla., for assessment and repairs, Chief Pete Cumming said. Preliminary inspection by the dealership found $7,000 worth of damage, although an assessor could find more damage in the undercarriage. 

Police charged Sandra Shepherd, an 80-year-old seasonal Longboat resident from Michigan, with leaving the scene of an accident with injuries, a third-degree felony.

Shepard could also face insurance fraud charges from the state. Police said she reported the damage to her Lexus was caused by a parking-lot incident.

Officer Ray Bergeron, who spent a night in a hospital after the collision, is back on the job without serious injury.

Although the police department would pay for any repairs, the town would be reimbursed by insurance, Cumming said. 

The Dec. 27 crash occurred around 9 p.m. in the 1000 block of Gulf of Mexico Drive.

Cumming said the white Lexus sedan that struck the police cruiser at northernmost entrance to Country Club Shores hesitated for 30 seconds after the collision, then drove off.

Bergeron, who’d been traveling about 35 miles-per-hour before he was hit, couldn’t open the door of his cruiser, which had been wedged into a nearby ditch.

Shepherd arrived at a Sarasota Lexus dealer the next morning, seeking repairs to her car,  Cumming said.

Although Bergeron didn’t see what kind of car hit him, traffic cameras at the Country Club Shore’s northernmost entrance and at the south end of Gulf of Mexico Drive did.

It was registered in West Bloomfield, Michigan, to a woman who owned a condo at Longboat Harbour Condominium. The car had been insured there and Shepherd had filed a claim that she’d been hit in a grocery store parking lot, Cumming said.

“What she did afterward leads us to believe she knew what she did and tried to avoid consequences,” Cumming said.

[Longboat driver charged in hit-and-run crash that damaged police cruiser]

When Detective Lt. Robert Bourque asked Shepherd if she knew why police were visiting her, she said she thought she'd hit something, Cumming said. After a few more questions, Cumming said Shepherd invoked her right to an attorney and questioning stopped.

Police filed for an arrest warrant in the 12th Judicial Circuit Court, although an arraignment and court date have not been set.

“There’s no real reason to handcuff and load up an 80-year-old woman,” Cumming said.

Shepherd could lose her drivers licenses for three years, receive up to five years in prison or on probation and $5,000 in fines if convicted.