Stolen pickup goes on wild ride

A head-on collision ends the chase. A deputy is injured.

By Casey Cora and Molly Moorhead, Times Staff Writers
Published March 7, 2008

SPRING HILL - A stolen pickup pursued by Pasco sheriff's deputies went on a wild ride Thursday morning before ending in a head-on collision that sent one deputy to the hospital and led to the arrest of two people.

Pasco sheriff's spokesman Doug Tobin said deputies began searching for a blue Chevrolet Silverado about 6:30 a.m. after learning from the truck's internal antitheft system that it was stolen. The pursuit began when the pickup emerged near Key Lime Drive in Moon Lake and headed east on State Road 52 toward the Suncoast Parkway.

Here's what sheriff's officials say happened during the next 30 minutes:

Once the pickup reached the northbound lanes of the parkway, the driver veered off the road and through some vegetation before doubling back toward Shady Hills Road. A deputy was watching from atop an overpass.

Suspecting the truck had ducked into the Quail Ridge Golf Resort, deputies deployed tire-flattening devices called stop sticks at both of the subdivision's exits.

Tobin said the driver must have seen the sticks and driven through a wooded area to reach Shady Hills Road, where he was met by the mounting traffic of the morning commute.

With deputies closing in from the north and south lanes of Shady Hills Road, the pickup again veered off the road.

It struck the front end of a sheriff's cruiser driven by 17-year department veteran Deputy George Winton, driving across the cruiser's hood and then crashing into a tree, Tobin said.

It is unclear how fast the pickup was going at the time of the collision, but Tobin said Winton "was probably in the process of stopping."

Winton, 58, suffered a minor injury and was taken to Regional Medical Center Bayonet Point and later released.

The two people in the truck went to the hospital too - and then to jail. The driver, Leslie R. Collins, 26, of 9078 West St. in Brooksville, was charged with trafficking in cocaine, trafficking in methamphetamine, fleeing and eluding, aggravated fleeing and eluding, reckless driving, driving with a suspended or revoked license and grand theft.

Deputies found 1.4 ounces of powder cocaine and 2 ounces of crystal methamphetamine in the pickup, Tobin said.

The pickup's passenger, 24-year-old Mary Beth Johnson of 10846 Evergreen St. in New Port Richey, faces charges of trafficking in cocaine and trafficking in methamphetamine.

The Florida Highway Patrol is investigating the crash and the Sheriff's Office is doing its own internal inquiry, as a matter of standard practice.

[Last modified March 6, 2008, 21:22:25]