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Routine traffic stop proves anything but

It started with a question about a car's color, led to a chase and ended with two men being arrested and jailed.

By Times Staff Writer
Published June 25, 2005

INVERNESS - A routine traffic stop turned into an unusual chase Thursday evening. In the end, deputies arrested two Leesburg men on a variety of charges, including fleeing and eluding police.

The trouble started about 7:35 p.m., when Citrus County Sheriff's Deputy Clint Adams was driving east on State Road 44 E behind a green, older model Chevrolet Caprice. From his cruiser, he ran a computer check on the Caprice's license plate; the record showed the tag was assigned to a beige Caprice, an arrest report showed.

Adams drove closer to the car when a black Honda Accord, which had been driving beside the Caprice on the four-lane highway, switched into the deputy's lane, between his car and the Caprice.

Adams put on his emergency lights and stopped the Caprice, the report said. The Accord pulled away.

The deputy told the Caprice driver that he needed to see the registration because the car's color was different than that listed in the computer, the report said. The deputy also said he was going to prepare a written warning for a passenger who wasn't wearing a seat belt.

While handling paperwork at the patrol car, Adams saw a passenger, later identified as Ontario N. Garrison, 24, get out of the car and run through woods parallel to S Fir Terrace. Adams yelled "stop" and told the man he was under arrest, but Garrison kept running, the report said.

The deputy drove away in pursuit and quickly found Garrison getting into the black Honda, which was driving about 5 mph on Fir. Adams said he followed the Accord, which was in reverse, eventually stopping it.

Adams arrested the driver, Travis L. Littles, 20, on a charge of fleeing/attempting to elude a law officer.

The man who fled, Garrison, was held on charges of resisting/obstructing a law officer and giving false information to a law officer, the report said. He also had an outstanding Lake County warrant charging him with cocaine possession and sale.

Both men were booked into the Citrus County jail and remained there Friday afternoon. Bail was set at $1,000 for Garrison and $5,000 for Littles.

Adams allowed the Caprice driver, who was not named in the report, to leave. He had a correct registration. The listed color was wrong because the car had been painted recently, the report said.

[Last modified June 25, 2005, 00:34:16]