Safe Journeys is a new series that unveils the humanity behind public safety, as men and women share their journey of protection, empathy, resilience and who they are beyond the badge.

Trooper Toni Schuck always worked the same post for the Skyway 10K. Nearly 8,000 runners participate in the annual event to raise money for military families. What makes this race unique? A breathtaking 6.2 mile trek over the iconic Sunshine Skyway Bridge that spans Tampa Bay.

“It's at the beginning of the race and that's where the runners are offloaded. They come on busses...across the Skyway Bridge from Saint Petersburg...So I get to see them. I get to see them come off the busses, I get to see them stretching and getting ready. I get to see some of the unique outfits that they wear.”

Schuck sees it all. And it was no different on March 6, 2022.

“The sun came up. It was a beautiful sunrise over the Skyway Bridge. And we got a radio transmission from the southern point of the detail that a vehicle had come around the barricades. And one of the officers was going to start pursuing her to get her to stop.”

A woman was driving her vehicle towards the race course. At first, Schuck thought little of the transmission.

“In my mind, I'm thinking she's going to stop because we have other checkpoints.”

Schuck was stationed in her patrol vehicle at the race’s last checkpoint — the final line of defense between would-be threats and thousands of runners and volunteers. It was a line of defense that most assumed would never have to be used. But on the morning of March 6, 2022, the radio updates kept coming.

“She's not stopping and she's pulling away...she's in excess of a hundred miles an hour...That's where you get the knot in your stomach and a little hair on the back of your neck sticks up.”

“I see her coming at me. And I'm thinking to myself, I'm in a marked unit. I have lights. She's going to see this truck.”

She's going to see this truck.

Toni Schuck began her law enforcement career in 1995. Today, she serves with the Florida Highway Patrol Commercial Vehicle Enforcement Unit.

“My uncle was a state trooper, and so I grew up around that black and tan being in his driveway. And, you know, he would always come home and tell us the cool stories...so I just thought it would be something neat to do.”

“I always had a sense of duty for the community” shared Schuck, and “a drive to do something good.”

As the suspect vehicle approached Schuck’s checkpoint on March 6, 2022, that sense of duty for the community was put to the ultimate test.

“I'm the last one” Schuck remembers thinking. The last trooper between a speeding car and thousands of defenseless civilians. Still, as the threat hurtled ever closer, Schuck believed the driver would stop.

“She can see the truck and she's going to stop because any normal, prudent person is going to do that...it was just those last few seconds where I realized 'she's not stopping.'”

It was just those last few seconds where I realized 'she's not stopping.

It was later determined that the driver of the vehicle, an older woman, had been driving under the influence. The suspect was arrested, but as of the time of this publishing, she is yet to be sentenced.

The impact of the collision was massive. Schuck was immediately transported from the crash site to the hospital.

“I didn't lose consciousness, but it was a hard hit. You know, it was estimated 60, 70 miles an hour that she hit me at.”

About three months later, Schuck walked into work for the first time since race day.

“You want to go out on your terms.” Schuck spent over 90 days in physical therapy, but fought and made her way back into the field. She was determined to not let this incident force her into an early retirement from the Florida Highway Patrol.

“I’m still dealing with neck and back injuries...It’s something that I’ll always have to live with.”

On March 12, 2023, the Skyway 10K returned for its first race since Schuck’s collision. To the average runner, race day felt the same as any other year. The sun was shining and runners gathered in fun outfits to raise funds for the Armed Forces Families Foundation. But this year was different. Trooper Schuck was not at her usual post. She instead found herself at the front of the pack of runners, leading the group along the race course. “I found it to be very therapeutic.”

Schuck met many individuals who were on the bridge at the time of the collision. For the first time, she was able to assign faces to the individuals she had been so determined to save just a year ago. When she reflects on the incident, she remind herself of those faces and has no regrets.

“I'm glad it was me...I'm glad I took that hit...if I had to, I'd do it again.”