Two Face Drug Charges After Police Pursuit
Posted on Thursday, 6 of August , 2009 at 9:46 am
PINELLAS COUNTY, FLA—The Major Accident Investigation Team of the Pinellas County Sheriff’s Office s investigating a multiple car crash which occurred on U.S. Highway 19 following a police pursuit. One of the cars involved was a police cruiser.
Two suspects are in custody.
According to investigators, S.T.A.R. Team deputies were patrolling in the Lealman area about 8:45 p.m. Wednesday when a deputy observed a 2001 Chevrolet Malibu vehicle bearing a tag that had been seen on a different vehicle on Tuesday evening. Deputies ran the tag and determined it was assigned to a different vehicle.
Deputies observed the vehicle pull into a gas station at 58th Avenue North and U.S. 19 and initiated a traffic stop.
During the attempt by deputies to conduct the stop, Victor Butler Jr., 21, of St. Petersburg, operator of the car, put his vehicle in reverse and attempted to back his vehicle into a sheriff’s deputy cruiser. The suspect then fled from deputies northbound on U.S. 19.
Deputies initiated pursuit, during which the suspect vehicle struck the front end of an unmarked cruiser driven by Deputy Johnathan Cleary, 29. This caused Butler to lose control of his car and strike another vehicle, a 1992 Ford Mustang driven by Christopher Fernandez,23, that was in the southbound lane on US19 just north of Park Street. The suspect vehicle continued on and then struck a Jeep Grand Cherokee that was parked in the parking lot of a restaurant located at 7500 Park Boulevard.
The deputy was not injured.
Butler and a passenger, 20-year-old Jamarcus Waller of St. Petersburg, exited Butler’s vehicle and fled on foot. After a short foot pursuit deputies apprehended the suspects.
Butler was arrested for aggravated assault on a law enforcement officer with a motor vehicle, fleeing and eluding, DWLSR, attaching tag not assigned, three counts of leaving the scene of a crash, possession of cocaine, possession of marijuana.
Waller was arrested for possession of marijuana, possession of cocaine, and on an unrelated outstanding warrant for aggravated assault.
The rear seat passenger of the Mustang, 21-year-old Joshua Hines of St. Petersburg, was transported by ambulance to Bayfront Medical Center with non-life threatening injuries.
Lee Harrington, 29, a front seat passenger of the Mustang, who was uninjured, is a deputy for the Manatee County Sheriff’s Office. He was off duty at the time of the crash. 8-6-09
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Category: Courts, Crime, Drugs, Florida
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