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NORA KOCHAfter a two-county chase, deputies charged their prospective co-worker with a felony.
PALM HARBOR - Presumably, the Pinellas County sheriff's deputy recruit should have known to stop.
Instead, officials say, Vincenta R. Durdley, 28, kept driving his black Ford Mustang, leading his colleagues - in cruisers and two helicopters - on a 34-minute chase from Palm Harbor to Tampa Thursday night.
Durdley, a seven-year law enforcement veteran set to complete deputy training next week, finally faltered on Interstate 275 when he ran out of gas.
He was charged with aggravated fleeing and eluding, a felony, and taken to the Hillsborough County Jail, where he was held Friday on $1,000 bail. Pinellas deputies saw the car driving aggressively and possibly racing other vehicles on U.S. 19 in Palm Harbor around 11 p.m. Thursday. They tried to stop the car two miles later, on McMullen-Booth Road just south of Curlew Road.
But the Mustang didn't stop, and the chase began, heading south on McMullen-Booth Road. With a Pinellas County sheriff's helicopter on the scene, the pursuit continued through Safety Harbor and into Oldsmar when Durdley turned east on State Road 580.
As they approached the Hillsborough County line, the Mustang sideswiped a police cruiser and pushed it into the guardrail. Durdley's car also struck another vehicle. The cruiser and the other vehicle sustained significant damage. No one was injured.
The chase went through interchanges and onto I-275, where he finally stopped near the Bearss Avenue exit because the Mustang was running out of gas.
Pinellas County deputies alerted Hillsborough authorities to the chase when they entered the county. The Hillsborough Sheriff's Office brought a helicopter.
During the chase, Durdley used side roads, flipped off his vehicle lights and avoided stop traps set up by deputies, Pinellas County Sheriff's Office spokesman Tim Goodman said.
Because he left major roads, authorities were not sure of his exact route. Durdley probably was listening to the radio communication among the deputies in pursuit, Goodman said.
The Sheriff's Office placed Durdley on paid administrative leave. A new deputy in Pinellas County is paid an annual salary of $34,099.93. An Internal Affairs investigation into the incident was opened Friday, Goodman said.
Durdley was hired by Pinellas County on March 17 from the Alachua County Sheriff's Office, where he was a patrol deputy for about four years.
- Times researcher Caryn Baird contributed to this report. Staff writer Nora Koch can be reached at 727 771-4304 or nkoch@sptimes.com