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Bumpy ride ends in arrest

The driver of a reported stolen truck faces charges after a chase from Clearwater to Tarpon Springs.

By JACOB H. FRIES
Published October 7, 2006

A man in a stolen truck trying to elude authorities crashed through a fence, rammed two cruisers and fought with deputies before being taken into custody early Friday, authorities said.

Benjamin Tyler Cyr, 20, of Dunedin, faces numerous felony charges, including aggravated battery with a motor vehicle, resisting arrest with violence, and fleeing and eluding. He was being held at Pinellas County Jail in lieu of $291,000 bail.

The pursuit began in Clearwater and ended in Tarpon Springs. According to authorities, this is how the episode unfolded:

Shortly before 4 a.m., Clearwater police received a call that a 2003 Ford F-150 pickup truck was stolen from S Nimbus Avenue. Officers then broadcast over the radio a description of the truck, which was seen a short time later at N Martin Luther King Jr. Avenue and Palmetto Street.

The officer called for backup and, once other cruisers arrived, tried to stop the truck. But it sped away and police decided to end their pursuit, said police spokesman Wayne Shelor.

Pinellas sheriff's deputies then encountered the truck at County Road 1 and State Road 580 and began to pursue it. They traveled at speeds between 35 and 50 mph, sheriff's Sgt. Jim Bordner said.

Cyr turned onto Palmetto Court, a dead-end street, and proceeded through the yard of a private home, striking a screened pool enclosure before crashing through a fence.

He then clipped two cruisers before stopping around U.S. 19 and Live Oak Street in Tarpon Springs, where he ran from the truck.

Cyr charged deputies as they moved to arrest him, touching off a "physical altercation" that left one deputy with minor injuries, Bordner said.

The incident, from the point that deputies first saw the truck to Cyr's arrest, occurred in a span of 16 minutes, Bordner said.

[Last modified October 7, 2006, 06:43:35]