A Florida Highway Patrol trooper shot a man near a Pinellas County cemetery Monday morning while investigating what officials called a property crime.
According to Sergeant Steve Gaskins, the shooting happened at 6 a.m. at the Royal Palm Cemetery at 2600 Gandy Boulevard in Pinellas Park. The trooper, identified as Daniel Cole, a 13-year veteran, was not injured.
The man, identified as Clifford Work, was taken to Bayfront Medical Center with non-life threatening injuries.
Officials said the trooper was searching a warehouse after a report of a property crime when he saw the suspect, who was described as being armed.
The troopers called for backup but the shooting took place before the additional officers arrived, Gaskins said.
FHP officials, along with the FDLE, are investigating the incident and said more information would be released at a later time.
In September 2011, Trooper Cole tased Danielle Maudsley at a Pinellas Park FHP substation. She was arrested and accused of being involved in two hit-and-run crashes and driving without a license.
Maudsley hit her head on the concrete. Her family said she suffered severe brain damage. Her family hired attorney Kevin Hayslett who says Maudsley has been moved to a new facilty and is still in a vegetative state.
Trooper Cole was cleared of any wrongdoing in that case earlier this year. He has been placed on administrative leave for three days which is standard procedure.
We have a correction to make to a story we ran at 5 p.m. about this shooting. In that story, we showed a photo from the Florida Highway Patrol's website, which was incorrectly labeled. That website showed the wrong picture with a caption identifying it as Trooper Daniel Cole. We regret any confusion caused by the earlier story.