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Police manhunt ends under a house

By JUSTIN GEORGE
Published November 15, 2006

TAMPA - Police detectives canvassed a Belmont Heights neighborhood looking for Derick Presley on Tuesday.

They suspected he was involved in a robbery that happened the day before.

As they neared 2929 21st Street, a small white house with pink trim, Presley, 45, ran out of it, carrying a .357 revolver, police said. Moments later, a woman came out, screaming she had just been robbed.

Detectives and Presley locked eyes, police spokesman Larry McKinnon said. The suspect ran behind the house and hid.

Detectives called in the SWAT team, cordoning off half a block between 21st and 22nd streets.

K-9 dogs sniffed around while hostage negotiators used a loudspeaker to try and coax the suspect out from his hiding spot. Officers searched door-to-door.

The homes in the neighborhood are raised, and police looked underneath them. They found Presley after about 90 minutes, curled up under some stairs at a home next to the one police said he robbed.

He surrendered after he was ordered out, McKinnon said. Police found a revolver under the house where the robbery occurred.

Presley had been released from prison on Feb. 19, after serving time for being a felon with a concealed weapon, according to state records.

He has been convicted of robbery with a gun, aggravated battery with a deadly weapon, cocaine possession and trafficking in cocaine, records show.

[Last modified November 15, 2006, 01:44:37]