ALTAMONTE SPRINGS, Fla. – A Winter Springs teen is facing charges after police said she kicked an officer who was trying to arrest her for fleeing the scene of a crash, according to an arrest report.
An Altamonte Springs officer responded to the hit-and-run crash Thursday afternoon near State Road 436 and Anchor Road, police said.
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The victim said he was driving westbound on SR 436 in the middle lane, just east of Anchor Road, and was stopped at a red light when a woman driving a silver Nissan rear-ended him. According to the report, the woman drove off after hitting the victim’s car but the victim was able to take a picture of the woman before she fled, which he used to help police identify the suspect.
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Two witnesses called law enforcement and provided the same description of the driver and her vehicle.
According to the report, police called the suspected hit-and-run driver, identified as 18-year-old Regan Ponder, and asked her to return to the crash scene and she did.
While the officer on scene was trying to complete the crash investigation, Ponder got upset and got into her car and rolled up her window, according to the report.
The officer told Ponder she couldn’t leave because the investigation was still underway and that’s when Ponder began yelling at the officer, according to police.
The officer then asked Ponder to get out of her car several times but she refused, the arrest report said.
According to the report, Ponder began looking through the passenger side of her vehicle, prompting the officer to try removing the driver from her car.
“I was unable to unlock her door and open it. I reached in and told her again to exit. I attempted to escort her out of the vehicle by placing my hand on her arm but she immediately pulled away. Ponder continued to resist by pulling away from me and not exiting her vehicle,” the officer wrote in the arrest report.
The officer was eventually able to remove the girl from her car without injury but Ponder continued to yell and resist the officer, according to the report.
The officer told Ponder she was under arrest for hit-and-run but according to the officer, Ponder continued to resist as the officer attempted to put handcuffs on her.
The officer said Ponder continued to resist even as the officer tried putting her in the back of a patrol vehicle.
“When I sat her in the back on my patrol vehicle, she began kicking the door to prevent me from closing it. I told Ponder to put her foot inside the car and attempted to put it in for her but she kicked my left hand,” the officer wrote. “After she kicked my hand, I was able to put her foot back into the car and shut the door.”
Ponder was arrested and taken to the Seminole County Jail on charges of hit-and-run leaving the scene of a crash involving injury other than serious bodily injury, resisting an officer with violence and battery on an officer or firefighter, according to the report.