An Alabaster man has been charged with a DUI crash that seriously injured a Pelham police officer in July.

A Shelby County grand jury on Oct. 18 indicted Shaquille O’Neal Montgomery, 30, on charges of first-degree assault, leaving the scene of an accident with injury, possession of marijuana and possession of a controlled substance – psilocyn, which is a psychedelic substance, according to court records.

Montgomery was booked into the Shelby County Jail and released Monday after posting $76,000 bond.

Pelham police Chief Brent Sugg released this statement:

“The Pelham Police Department is grateful that the individual who caused the catastrophic injuries upon Officer Elizabeth Minter on July 1, 2023, was taken into custody in Alabaster on December 10, 2023. We look forward to a successful prosecution of the individual and continued physical improvements for Officer Minter. We are grateful to God that she survived the events of that night.

We appreciate the law enforcement agencies that have been involved throughout this process, including the men and women of the Pelham Police Department, the Alabama Law Enforcement Agency, the Alabaster Police Department, and the Shelby County Sheriff’s Department.”

Minter was directing traffic around a crash at mile marker 242 on Interstate 65 southbound shortly after 12:30 a.m. July 1 when she was “knocked out of her boots” by a speeding vehicle, Sugg said at the time of the incident.

The chief said the driver had ignored traffic control vests and emergency lights and was going about 80 mph.

Minter was quickly attended to by officers and firefighters and transported to UAB Hospital.

The mother of three needed multiple surgeries and extensive physical therapy.

A GoFundMe established in the days after the crash raised more than $60,000 for Minter’s recovery.

“It’s been a slow and painful process, but I believe all my experiences in life have taught me that with God I can push through it to the other side,’’ Minter said in late July.

“Right now, I’m in a wheelchair. I have an external fixator device on my entire left leg, rods through my pelvis and hips going all the way across, a brace on my broken right leg, and a bandage on my healing broken ankle,’’ she said. “My recent x-rays have shown that things are healing on track.”

Before she was struck, Minter and two other officers were at the scene of a three-vehicle wreck caused by a driver going the wrong way on the interstate at a high speed.