Print

Email story

Comment

Letter to the editor

Briefs

Ex-deputy gets probation in high-speed pursuit case

By Times Staff Writer
Published November 5, 2004

PALM HARBOR - A former Pinellas sheriff's deputy who was charged with leading his own agency colleagues on a high-speed pursuit this summer has been sentenced to probation.

Vincenta R. Durdley, 28, was arrested in June on charges he fled from deputies while driving his black Ford Mustang at high speeds. Deputies first spotted him on U.S. 19 in Palm Harbor driving aggressively and possibly racing other cars. Deputies tried to pull him over on McMullen-Booth Road near Curlew Road, but he didn't stop.

He led deputies on a pursuit through Safety Harbor and Oldsmar, at one point sideswiping a cruiser and pushing it into a guardrail. He took the pursuit into Hillsborough County, where he was stopped on Interstate 275 when his car ran out of gas. No one was injured in the pursuit. Durdley at the time was a probationary employee set to complete his training the next week. He was fired after his arrest, sheriff's officials said. Durdley pleaded guilty last week to a felony charge of fleeing police and reckless driving. He was sentenced to two years probation, though adjudication against him was withheld.

[Last modified November 5, 2004, 01:24:48]