Man who dragged trooper during traffic stop enters guilty plea

Christopher Lewis sentenced to 6 months in jail

ORANGE COUNTY, Fla. – Christopher Lewis, who is accused of dragging a Florida Highway Patrol trooper during a 2019 traffic stop, entered a guilty plea in front of an Orange County judge on Friday.

Lewis was charged with attempted manslaughter, fleeing a police officer and reckless driving.

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“This case raises real questions about your judgement,” Judge Wayne Wooten said.

Prosecutors said Trooper Rivera was trying to stop a car that was going more than 80 mph along Colonial Drive.

Video shows the car at the train tracks and that’s when the driver got out of the car and ran off.

Rivera ran after the driver, who eventually returned to the car, but investigators said it was Lewis who moved into the driver’s seat and started driving away, dragging Rivera.

Lewis was sentenced to six months in the Orange County Jail. Wooten ordered him to 18 months of supervised probation and suspended his license for a year.

“I want you to understand the significance of the choice you made and the danger it posed to the community, to your co-defendant, to the trooper involved,” Wooten said.


About the Author

Ezzy Castro is a multimedia journalist on News 6's morning team who has a passion for telling the stories of the people in the Central Florida community. Ezzy worked at WFOR CBS4 in South Florida and KBMT in Beaumont, Texas, where she covered Hurricane Harvey in 2017. Being from Miami, Ezzy loves Cuban coffee and croquetas!

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