HOLIDAY - A 20-year-old homeless woman was arrested early Wednesday after she drove into another car on U.S. 19, backed into a sheriff's deputy and then fled the scene, according to the Pasco County Sheriff's Office. Minutes later, she was arrested by a Florida Highway Patrol trooper.
Genevieve Rose McCormick was arrested on charges of DUI, driving with a suspended license and leaving the scene of a crash with injuries. McCormick also was charged with grand theft auto, as she told deputies she had stolen the car from Hillsborough County this month, a report states.
Deputies gave the following account:
Sgt. William Lawless was working a traffic detail at Sunray Drive and U.S. 19 shortly after 2 a.m. when a silver Toyota Camry crashed into a red car stopped at a traffic light.
Lawless walked over to the Camry to check on the driver, McCormick, and she accelerated backward. The Camry hit Lawless in the knee and right hand, and he held onto the trunk as McCormick sped backward about 10 feet.
Lawless said the Camry was filled with white smoke because the air bags had deployed. He did not think McCormick meant to hit him. He walked over to the driver's door and smelled alcohol.
He told McCormick to turn off the engine, not thinking she would leave, as the crushed hood made it difficult to see through the windshield.
But as Lawless ran over to check on the other driver, he heard the Camry start and accelerate. He saw McCormick's head sticking out the window as she sped north on U.S. 19.
Lawless called paramedics to treat the other driver, who complained of neck pain.
Meanwhile, an FHP trooper clocked McCormick traveling 79 mph in a 45 mph zone at U.S. 19 and Main Street in New Port Richey. He started chasing the Camry, which almost crashed while traveling over a bridge on U.S. 19.
McCormick pulled over. She was arrested.
She was held Wednesday at the Land O'Lakes jail on $7,500 bail.
Lizard gatherer says he was robbed at gunpoint
PORT RICHEY - A 21-year-old Ybor City man told sheriff's deputies that he was robbed at gunpoint while looking for lizards on Tuesday afternoon.
Gregory Hile told sheriff's deputies that he was standing in a lot across from a gas station on Jarman Lane in Port Richey at 2:20 p.m. when two men pulled up in a silver car and demanded all his money.
Hile said he gave the men his blue and black duffel bag, which contained clothes and other belongings.
Hile said the passenger pointed a silver handgun at him. He said the men left traveling east on Embassy Boulevard. He said he did not get a good look at the suspects.
A lawn service worker who was mowing grass in an adjacent lot said he did not see any silver car.
