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Car chase ends in shots fired, crash

A Pinellas deputy fires three shots at a suspect in a Lexus as he attempts to ram the deputy's cruiser.

By ABHI RAGHUNATHAN
Published March 15, 2006

SEMINOLE - With the chase reaching speeds of 80 mph, it was clear to Deputy Paul Giovannoni that the fleeing Lexus was not going to stop.

Giovannoni decided to make a move. He clipped the 1992 Lexus with his cruiser, spinning it around. The cars now facing one another, the Lexus suddenly lurched forward and rammed Giovannoni's cruiser. As the Lexus appeared ready to ram into him again, Giovannoni fired three shots.

One of the bullets hit the Lexus and another bullet hasn't been found.

But a third bullet hit the rear door of a car driven by Candy Capaza of Seminole. Her two daughters, ages 18 months and 9 years, were in the back seat, inches from where the bullet hit.

"I heard three shots and I was screaming," said Patsy Schier, 73, a Seminole woman who was at the scene about 8:15 p.m. Monday.

The Lexus tried to flee, but soon ran into a tree. The driver was arrested as he tried to run away.

The series of events on Monday night is under review by the Pinellas Sheriff's Office.

Giovannoni has been placed on paid administrative leave during the investigation, standard practice in such matters, said Mac McMullen.

Sheriff's Office procedures allow deputies to use deadly force when they are in danger of "imminent death or great bodily harm."

Deputies also are allowed to pursue vehicles when drivers pose "an immediate threat and/or continuous threat to the public" through aggressive or hazardous driving.

"Investigators will review the deputy's actions in terms of the pursuit and the shooting," McMullen said.

The incident began when Robert Crapps, 19, driving the Lexus, was clocked at 54 mph in a 35 mph zone on Ulmerton Road.

A deputy briefly pursued but abandoned the chase when Crapps failed to stop.

That's when Giovannoni, 25, noticed Crapps driving "in an erratic, aggressive manner" down Seminole Boulevard.

The chase was on, sometimes at speeds of 80 mph. At Seminole Boulevard and 102nd Avenue, Crapps made a sudden U-turn. Giovannoni clipped the back of the Lexus, spinning it around.

Crapps, now facing Giovannoni, rammed the cruiser.

As Giovannoni opened his door and prepared to get out, Crapps backed into another car driven by Schier, the Sheriff's Office said.

"I was frightened," Schier said. "This guy came out of nowhere and hit me."

Crapps appeared ready to ram the cruiser again.

Giovannoni then fired three shots with his .45 caliber Glock, the Sheriff's Office said. Crapps sped away, and soon crashed into a tree at Seminole and Park boulevards. Other deputies caught him as he tried to run. Crapps was treated for minor injuries at Bayfront Medical Center in St. Petersburg and taken to jail. No one else was injured the incident.

Crapps faces charges of aggravated assault and resisting a law enforcement officer with violence, in addition to drug possession and other violations.

He was driving without a valid license and was on on probation for cocaine and marijuana possession, records show.

Sheriff's detectives found quantities of both those drugs when they searched the Lexus Crapps was driving on Monday night.

Abhi Raghunathan can be reached at araghunathan@sptimes.com or 727 893-8472.

[Last modified March 15, 2006, 01:30:11]