Fort Myers police officer struck by fleeing vehicle; man faces several charges for incident

A man was arrested Saturday in Fort Myers after police say he struck an officer with his truck while fleeing them.

Bryan Eugene Mink, 44, is facing several charges for the incident.

Police say they approached a pickup in the parking lot of a 7-Eleven and found Mink asleep at the wheel. Police say the truck wasn’t in a parking spot and had been there for some time. As officers approached, Mink woke up, started the truck and began to drive off, ignoring their commands to stop. As he drove off, he struck an officer with the truck. The officer was not seriously injured, according to the Fort Myers Police Department.

The FMPD says Mink then led officers on a high-speed chase until he lost control of his truck, crashed into some palm trees, a shed, and a fence before nearly driving into a home before he came to a stop.

Mink’s license was found to have been revoked since August of 2018 and the tag on the truck was not registered to it, according to police. They say Mink bought the truck in October but had not registered the vehicle nor had he purchased insurance for it.

A search of the truck turned up a glass pipe typically used to smoke crack, the report states.

Mink has a history in Lee County, having fled from police in October of 2019. During that incident, he nearly struck an officer before crashing into several cars. He served 11 months of a 1-year, 8-month sentence for those charges and was released in October 2020.

The FMPD says Mink purchased the truck from a friend 10 days after getting out of prison.

He’s currently in the Lee County Jail on $72,250 bond, and faces charges of aggravated battery on a police officer, driving on a revoked license three or more times, fleeing and eluding with disregard to the safety of persons and property, possession of drug paraphernalia, tag not assigned, and hit and run.

Jail records list Mink as being homeless.