LAND O'LAKES - A 36-year-old man was stopped for an expired tag and kicked several sheriff's deputies before running into a swamp, reports said.
The man, identified initially as John Doe and then later as Ernest Hall, was charged with four counts of battery on a law enforcement officer, two counts of escape, two counts of resisting arrest with violence and one count of resisting arrest without violence, according to jail records and a sheriff's report.
He remained in the Land O'Lakes jail Tuesday without bail.
Hall, of Parkway Boulevard in Land O'Lakes, was pulled over shortly after midnight Monday near U.S. 41 and Dale Mabry Highway. Deputies saw an open can of beer after making the traffic stop, the report said.
As deputies tried to ask his name, Hall became verbally abusive and made "threatening movements," the report said. He resisted their attempt to handcuff him by pulling his hands away and falling to the ground.
Hall continued fighting even after deputies used pepper spray, the report said. Hall slid under his truck and escaped, running over railroad tracks and into a swamp. Hall was caught, but it took six deputies to help remove him from the swamp, and at one point, he escaped again in 2 to 3 feet of water, the report said.
Deputies caught him again, but not before one injured his knee and another was kicked and cut.
