At around 4:30 p.m. on Monday, Florida woman Athena Shapiro was driving on I-75 toward Miami near Big Cypress Reservation when a black sports car with tinted windows began tailgating her, according to a post she shared on X, formerly known as Twitter. Moments after she moved into another lane and allowed the car to pass, traffic came to a standstill.
She realized the car had hit a state trooper's cruiser.
"Suddenly the car door opens and a man in a wheelchair rolls out," the self-described social justice activist wrote in the tweet.
After New Times broke the news of the incident late Monday night, the crash generated national headlines and stories featuring Shapiro's video of Cawthorn, who has lower-limb paralysis, on the side of the road as the Florida Highway Patrol (FHP) trooper paced around, grasping his neck.
Cawthorn's previous driving incidents have been widely covered, including tickets for allegedly speeding and driving with a revoked license. In a video from 2019, Cawthorn appeared to be at the wheel of a Mercedes C Class sports car, using a stick to operate the vehicle's pedals.
Dash cam footage of the incident released to New Times via a public records request captures the moment the former North Carolina congressman allegedly smashed into the back of the FHP cruiser while driving at high speed.
In one clip, a loud thud can be heard as the FHP cruiser's rear window appears to break into tiny pieces.
Another clip shows the trooper's vehicle propelled several feet forward by the violent collision before the officer slowly emerges from the car.
"Damnit!" he moans while exiting the damaged vehicle with a wincing expression on his face.
Cell phone video shared on social media by Shapiro shows the former GOP legislator sitting in a wheelchair on the shoulder of a highway. Nearby in the roadway were a state trooper's cruiser and the black sports car, both heavily damaged. Cawthorn is seen glancing over at the sports car's completely wrecked front end with a blank stare.
As noted by social media sleuths, Cawthorn was wearing shoes that looked similar to the footwear he'd been sporting days earlier at Donald Trump's Mar-A-Lago club.
On Monday evening, FHP spokesperson Greg Bueno told New Times that a "28-year-old male of Cape Coral" had rear-ended the trooper’s vehicle." Bueno said the trooper sustained "minor injuries" and was taken to a local hospital. The day after the accident, FHP confirmed the trooper had been released from the medical center.
Cawthorn was cited for violating Florida's so-called "Move Over" law, which requires drivers to yield to and slow down for police and emergency vehicles in the line of duty. The statute entails a non-criminal moving violation, with a fine of up to $500.
Cawthorn declined to comment when reached by New Times late Monday evening.
At the age of 18, Cawthorn was seriously injured in a car crash while traveling back to North Carolina from a spring break trip in Florida. He was a passenger at the time of the collision, which left him partially paralyzed.#breakingnew 🚨🚨Former Republican Congressman Madison Cawthorne who was tailgating me, just rear ended a FL State Trooper‼️ Im SHOOK 🤯😡😳 I was driving on i75S towards Miami in the left lane and this black tinted sports car was tailgating me relentlessly. I accelerated ahead… pic.twitter.com/IfS2EUg1oC
— Alethea⸆⸉ (@Women2Dc) April 15, 2024
A former U.S. representative for North Carolina’s 11th Congressional District from 2021 to 2023, Cawthorn’s brief congressional tenure was rocked by controversy. A House Ethics Committee fined him for improperly promoting the LGB (Let's Go Brandon) coin, a digital token referencing the not-so-inside-joke slogan, "Fuck Joe Biden."
In March 2022, he was charged with driving with a revoked license while two speeding tickets were pending.
