- December 14, 2025
Deputy Castanheira has been in a traffic accident with his patrol car twice in the past six months.
A Palm Coast woman was charged with drunk driving Wednesday night after her vehicle struck a Flagler County Sheriff’s Office deputy’s patrol car that was stopped with another vehicle, according to the Sheriff’s Office.
The Florida Highway Patrol arrested Colleen Comfort, 45, of Palm Coast, after she hit the patrol car around 11:16 p.m. on Palm Harbor Parkway.
Comfort was charged with driving under the influence, leaving the scene of an accident with property damage and DUI with property damage. She was being held in the Flagler County Inmate Facility Thursday on $1,000 bond.
Lt. Justin Asbury, of the Florida Highway Patrol, said Deputy John Castanheira, of the Sheriff’s Office, was conducting a traffic stop on Palm Harbor Parkway near the entrance to Marina Cove. Castanheira’s emergency lights were activated on the patrol car when Comfort passed by and crashed into the open patrol car door, according to the release.
Castanheira, who was exiting his vehicle, was alerted by Deputy Michael Sapp, and was able to retreat back inside his vehicle before the collision.
Comfort failed to stop for the accident, and Sapp, who was on the scene for the first traffic stop, pursued her until stopping her at the intersection of Collingwood Lane and Cottonwood Court.
Sapp told the state trooper he observed Comfort’s vehicle approaching the traffic stop scene. He said the vehicle did not appear to be slowing before colliding with the patrol car’s door.
Comfort told Asbury that she thought she hit a mailbox. She declined to submit to field sobriety tests and was transported to the Flagler County Inmate Facility. A breathalyzer was administered, and Comfort registered a .252 on the initial test. The legal alcohol limit is .08.
“This could have been much more serious,” Sheriff Donald Fleming said in a statement. “Injuries could have occurred. This woman chose to drink and drive and put others’ lives at risk.”
No Flagler County deputies were injured in the incident.
This is the second time in six months Castanheira and his patrol car have been involved in traffic incidents.
In December, as he was leaving the Sheriff’s Office just after midnight, Castanheira was distracted by his laptop in his patrol car, and he ran off the road. He was not injured, but he did run into a guide wire to a streetlight.
Earlier that same day, Castanheria’s brother, Antonio, was talking to his children in the backseat as he drove on Sesame Boulevard, in Palm Coast, when his car struck and killed Josefina Reid, who was jogging along the side of the road.
