Deputy unharmed by bullet or crash

After being shot on Monday, a young deputy was spared again Friday after a chase turns into an accident.

By AMY HERDY

© St. Petersburg Times, published April 8, 2000

TAMPA -- Four days after he survived a shooting at close range, Hillsborough Sheriff's Deputy Chris Madiedo returned to duty Friday and escaped another close call.

His cruiser was wrecked in a pursuit of a driver who had fled a routine traffic stop.

Once again, Madiedo was uninjured.

"Welcome back," said sheriff's Maj. Al Perotti Jr., who heads the District I office where Madiedo works.

Monday morning, a gunman ambushed Madiedo and shot him in the chest as he rounded the corner of an apartment building during a foot patrol on E 140th Avenue. The steel plate in Madiedo's protective vest saved the 25-year-old deputy from injury.

On Friday, as Madiedo began his shift, he said he was eager to return to the street.

"Thanks to God and Safariland Vest Company, I am 100 percent," he said.

At 1 p.m., Madiedo attempted to pull over a brown Monte Carlo driving with no tag at N 12th Street and E Fletcher Avenue.

As the deputy approached the Monte Carlo, sheriff's spokeswoman Debbie Carter said, the driver fled. During a short pursuit, the suspect's car struck a cruiser driven by another deputy, Jack Rodriguez.

The suspect then drove down Fletcher Avenue, crossed into the oncoming lanes and hit a 1994 Mazda driven by Donette Duncan, a 24-year-old University of South Florida student from Tennessee.

As the two cars spun, Rodriguez's cruiser struck the suspect's car head on, and Madiedo's cruiser hit Duncan's car.

Rodriguez and Duncan were taken to University Community Hospital with minor injuries.

The driver of the fleeing car, identified as Jerry Lee Tolbert, 20, of 4418 Cobia Drive was not hurt. He was charged with aggravated battery on a law enforcement officer, fleeing to elude, and driving with a suspended license.

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