By Kate McCardell

Published: March 20, 2008

By KATE McCARDELL
Floridan Staff Writer

A semi-truck collided with a marked Florida Highway Patrol vehicle Thursday morning in a construction zone on Interstate 10 near Chipley.
The collision caused the highway patrol vehicle to strike a parked occupied pickup truck.
According to highway patrol Capt. David Tripp, Trooper Milton Brown of Marianna was airlifted to Southeast Alabama Medical Center in Dothan as a precautionary measure and is listed in serious but stable condition.
“It appears he suffered a broken arm and they’re still checking him to see if there are any other injuries,” Tripp said.
Brown is a trooper based in Washington County, Tripp said.
The driver of the Chevy pick-up was listed by highway patrol as Michael Pusateri, 44, of Marianna. Highway patrol reported that Pusateri was not injured in the incident.
The semi driver, Bruce G. Nichols, 58 of McCalla, Ala., was listed as having minor injuries. His passenger, Sherry Nichols, 49, of McCalla, Ala., was not injured, according to highway patrol.
The accident occurred just inside the Jackson County line, at the 127-mile marker near Chipley at approximately 7:30 a.m., according to FHP.
With emergency lights activated, the highway patrol car was traveling east on I-10 in the outside lane following a moving construction operation when the semi, in the same lane, failed to see the patrol car and took evasive action, according to a highway patrol report.
The semi was unable to avoid contact, striking the left rear of the patrol car.
The impact sent the patrol car onto the south shoulder of I-10, where the Chevy pickup was parked.The patrol car struck the left side of the pick up, according to the highway patrol report.
The semi continued to travel eastward and left the roadway onto the south shoulder, and came to a final stop in a wet-weather pond.