Arrest made in March hit-and-run crash that injured Clay County deputy

The Florida Highway Patrol said it has made an arrest in a March hit-and-run crash that injured a Clay County deputy.

Alexander Gregory Pope, 34, was arrested on charges including failing to stop at a crash scene resulting in serious injury, driving while license suspended/revoked and fail to yield to oncoming traffic while turning left.

The crash happened on the night of March 24 on Blanding Boulevard near County Road 218.

According to an FHP report, a 2008 Ford F-250 pickup truck was in the left turn lane on Blanding attempting to make a left turn on CR 218 when it turned left into the path of the deputy's vehicle.

After the crash, the Clay County Sheriff's Office said the truck pulled into a nearby CVS parking lot and then fled. The deputy, identified in the FHP report as Matthew Magish, was transported to St. Vincent's in Clay County with non-life-threatening injuries.

Witnesses told deputies that the driver of the truck appeared to be a "white male, with short hair and 'scruffy' facial hair." A witness contacted CCSO at the end of April and said Pope stated that "he is the person that crashed into the officer's car," according to an FHP report.

Pope told the witness that he drove his truck to a Middleburg house and parked it behind a trailer, the report detailed.

On the night of the crash in March, Pope called the witness and said he needed a ride home "because he had been drinking," according to the report. At the end of April, Pope then told the witness that he had secured a loan for $2,200 to buy a car. The witness asked Pope why he needed a car when he had a truck and "said that he was the person that crashed into the patrol car on Blanding Boulevard."

Deputies contacted the homeowner of the home where Pope's truck was parked at the end of April. The homeowner said they heard "Pope crashed into a tree or culvert" and said they had no knowledge of Pope crashing into a deputy's car.

Deputies moved the truck and found that damage on the front end bumper and fender was consistent with witness statements about the damage. A reflective decal sticker "consistent with the decal sticker used to stripe Clay County Sheriff's Office patrol vehicles" was also found, according to the report. The truck had a diamond-plated brush guard, and the CCSO vehicle's bumper had a diamond-plated imprint.

Investigators spoke to Pope at the beginning of May and said his truck was damaged from hitting a culvert. He "denied any involvement in the hit and run or having any knowledge," the report detailed. An arrest warrant for Pope was issued June 6.

Pope is being held in the Clay County Detention Facility on a bond of $87,000.

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