A Florida police officer is recovering after an illegal immigrant crashed into his patrol car last week.

Belle Isle police officer Jacob Tapia was injured on April 3 after Paula Hernandez Lazaro crashed into his patrol vehicle after failing to yield while making a left turn. Lazaro, who was driving without a license, hit Tapia’s car so hard that it went off the road and collided with a tree and a fence. 

The officer was treated at Orlando Regional Medical Center for minor injuries and was released the same day.

“He’s expected to make a full recovery and will be following up to ensure there are no lingering issues,” the department said.

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The department said this was the second time Lazaro was cited for driving without a license.

Upon further investigation, Belle Isle police discovered Lazaro was in the United States illegally. She was arrested and charged with operating a vehicle without a valid license and unauthorized entry into Florida.

Belle Isle Police Chief Travis Grimm told FOX 35 Orlando that the Florida Highway Patrol is handling the investigation.

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Paula Hernandez Lazaro entered the U.S. illegally through Texas and has been living in Florida for about 11 years. (Belle Isle Police Department)

Lazaro’s citizenship status was looked into when she handed a state trooper her Mexican passport without a stamp for entry into the U.S. She has been living in Florida for about 11 years and entered the country illegally through Texas.

Grimm said Florida Highway Patrol troopers have undergone the training necessary to handle and arrest suspected illegal immigrants.

“FHP has gone through the training already with ICE,” Grimm said. “I don’t want to speak on their behalf, but they’ve already gotten the clearance and the latitude to be able to use those authorities.”

Paula Hernandez Lazaro has been cited two times for driving without a license, Belle Isle police said. (Belle Isle Police Department)

Belle Isle police thanked the community for checking in on the injured officer over the past week.

“Your support means the world to him and to all of us. It’s genuinely amazing to serve a community that cares so deeply about its police officers,” the department wrote on Facebook.

FIRST ON FOX: Former Attorney General William Barr fired off a letter Thursday to Louisiana Attorney General Liz Murrill, warning her against backing dozens of multimillion-dollar lawsuits targeting oil companies like Chevron — which was recently ordered to pay a coastal parish $745 million for decades-old actions by a now-defunct subsidiary.

In his letter to Murrill, Barr referenced Republican Gov. Jeff Landry’s reported support for several lawsuits in which parishes — Louisiana’s version of counties — and powerful attorneys are seeking tens of billions in culpability tied to land loss.

“As you know, the Trump administration is committed to unleashing America’s domestic energy production,” Barr wrote, citing President Donald Trump’s executive order “Protecting American Energy from State Overreach.”

The recent case in Plaquemines Parish against Chevron, Barr argued, is the first example of Louisiana “subjecting energy producers to arbitrary or excessive fines through retroactive penalties cast as damages for alleged environmental harm.”

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That case focused on allegations that Texaco — which was dissolved into Chevron around the turn of the century — was culpable for the effects of coastal erosion due to its pre-1980s energy development projects.

“We are concerned Louisiana is in the process of doing just this by its acquiescence to the wave of 43 lawsuits devised by prominent plaintiff’s lawyers against American oil and gas companies on behalf of Louisiana’s coastal parishes,” Barr said.

After the ruling, Chevron lead trial attorney Mike Phillips told Fox News Digital the company plans to appeal the verdict to address “numerous legal errors that led to this unjust result.”

“This verdict is just one step in the process to establish that the 1980 law does not apply to conduct that occurred decades before the law was enacted. Chevron is not the cause of the land loss occurring in Breton Sound,” Phillips said.

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The Marine Offloading Facility at the Venture Global Plaquemines liquefied natural gas export facility in Port Sulphur, Louisiana. (Getty)

“[T]he state seems to have largely ceded control of the litigation to the private plaintiff’s lawyers and deferred to their legal positions,” the letter reads, adding that plaintiffs’ claims run “clearly contrary” to the 1978 law, and are “devoid of legal merit.”

In his letter to Murrill, Barr said he was deeply concerned by agreements made with Landry in relation to the lawsuits. Landry had been criticized by the state-based Pelican Institute and other sources for his apparent closeness to plaintiffs’ attorney John Carmouche — a donor who he recently named to the Louisiana State University board.

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Barr went on to argue that pre-1980 damages do not qualify for grandfathering under a relevant 1978 natural resources law and that “serious constitutional issues of retroactivity due process and takings” exist in Louisiana’s arguments.

Instead, he said, Louisiana should consider whether the federal government is responsible for the “vast majority” of the land-loss phenomenon that attorneys are trying to blame on energy companies.

Barr wrote the letter on behalf of the American Free Enterprise Chamber of Commerce, the American Energy Institute, the United States Energy Association and First Principles.

“We are concerned these suits, if they continue, will impact critical current LNG plants and operations in the coastal zone, curtail new energy investments in Louisiana, constrain funding available for new production in the Gulf of America, and undermine President Trump’s efforts to re-establish American energy dominance,” Barr said.

Neither Carmouche nor Landry responded to requests for comment on the original lawsuit.

Attorney Jimmy Faircloth, representing state agencies in the suit, told the Times-Picayune that the Landry administration supports the energy industry and its positive impact on jobs.

Faircloth reportedly said the case is more about Texaco’s alleged “sins of the past” and failure to enforce regulations in past decades.

In a statement to Fox News Digital on Friday, Murrill said she has “great respect for former Attorney General Bill Barr.”

“With regard to the recent jury verdict against Chevron, he is unfortunately wrong about the facts and the law. Louisiana is and will continue to be a leading energy producer for the nation. I have encouraged our elected leaders to pursue energy production solutions and likewise to adopt a sensible, predictable enforcement regime. Chevron and its predecessor Texaco, like other oil and gas companies, was grandfathered into the permitting regime established in the early eighties unless its prior actions were illegal and continued after 1980,” Murrill said.

“The facts at trial showed Chevron’s predecessor Texaco illegally dumped 100 million gallons of contaminated water into the marsh and continued to do so after 1980, while also being paid by other companies to inject their wastewater into Chevron/Texaco’s saltwater disposal wells.”

“So it knew the law, but chose profits over environmental compliance. The recent press offensive omits these important facts, and omits critical elements of the law. The jury carefully examined the evidence and only held Chevron responsible for its share of fault. I will continue to be a champion of this energy sector, which contributes greatly to American energy independence and security. I will also ensure that industry complies with our laws.”

Would-be Trump assassin suspect Ryan Routh will now face state charges in Florida on top of the federal charges he has already pleaded not guilty to. 

Florida’s Attorney General James Uthmeier told “FOX & Friends” on Thursday that his office secured a warrant and is charging Routh with attempted first-degree murder and terrorism in an alleged plot to kill President Donald Trump at his West Palm Beach golf course last September.

Uthmeier said the charges come after officials in Florida said they were previously stymied in their investigations by the Biden Justice Department, which claimed jurisdiction. That led to Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis signing an executive order days after the Sept. 15 incident, authorizing state agencies to pursue charges such as attempted murder, which could carry a life sentence. 

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With the Justice Department and FBI now headed up by Attorney General Pam Bondi and Director Kash Patel, respectively, Uthmeier said his office has gotten cooperation and the go-ahead to charge Routh. 

“We want a justice system that is willing to pursue justice no matter what party is in charge and Joe Biden and the Democrats did everything they could to drag their feet and refuse to cooperate with the state of Florida,” Uthmeier said. “Under Attorney General Bondi and the Trump administration and our new FBI director [Patel], it’s been a breath of fresh air, very different. They’ve been transparent, cooperative.”

Uthmeier said that the state’s case will be carried out in collaboration with the federal government. He said federal officials have made their evidentiary folder available to his office and they plan to do the same. He also mentioned that more evidence about the case will become public very shortly. 

The new charges come just days after federal prosecutors revealed Routh sought to obtain military-grade weapons — including a rocket launcher — from a Ukrainian contact as part of his alleged assassination plot.

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Routh told his associate to “send me a rpg [rocket-propelled grenade] or stinger, and I will see what we can do… [Trump] is not good for Ukraine,” according to court documents obtained by Fox News.

Routh pleaded not guilty in September to federal charges of the attempted assassination of a presidential candidate, possessing a firearm in furtherance of a crime of violence, assaulting a federal officer, felon in possession of a firearm and ammunition, and possession of a firearm with an obliterated serial number.

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Routh is accused of carrying out what federal prosecutors describe as the final stage of an attempted assassination plot against Trump.

In the pre-dawn hours of Sept. 15, prosecutors say Routh set up a sniper hideout near Trump International Golf Club in West Palm Beach. Armed with a military-grade SKS rifle that he had obtained illegally, Routh is accused of positioning himself in anticipation of Trump’s arrival to play golf.

A sketch depicting Ryan Routh, the man accused of attempting to assassinate former President Donald Trump in West Palm Beach last year, with his attorney, Kristy Militello, appearing in a federal court in Fort Pierce, Florida, on March 7. (Lothar Speer)

However, before Trump came into range, Routh was spotted by Secret Service agents. When they confronted him, the agents opened fire and Routh fled the scene, abandoning his rifle, officials said. 

During his attempted escape, he carried a written escape plan, multiple burner phones, fake IDs and stolen license plates, according to authorities. He was later arrested in Martin County the same day.

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On Monday, Routh’s defense submitted court filings, including a 13-page motion alleging that law enforcement used “impermissibly suggestive” tactics when interviewing an eyewitness identified as T.C.M. They claim the witness felt pressured to identify Routh because of the intense atmosphere created by the presence of multiple law enforcement agencies.

Routh’s trial is scheduled to begin Sept. 8.

In December, former Florida Attorney General Ashley Moody charged Routh with another felony attempted murder charge, with prosecutors arguing he was responsible for an accident that almost killed a young girl when police shut down traffic after he fled. 

Fox News’ Danamarie McNicholl and David Lewkowict contributed to this report.