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Wild chase ends with arrest of van driverBy Times staff writer © St. Petersburg Times, published April 15, 2001 A Hudson man led a Pasco County Sheriff's deputy on a wild, hourlong chase -- circling through much of west Pasco -- early Saturday morning before he jumped from his car and was arrested in the woods near the Suncoast Parkway in Shady Hills. Walter James Rickard, 26, of 15306 Brook Hollow Court, was charged with feeling to elude and driving with a suspended license, deputies said. The chase began about 2:55 a.m. on U.S. 19 near Mile Stretch Road, deputies said. Deputy Glynn Jude saw a silver Ford van, which was headed north, drive off the right shoulder of the road twice. Jude turned on his flashing lights and Rickard's van speeded up. While talking on his mobile phone and looking at the deputy in his mirror, Rickard drove to State Road 54 and turned east, deputies said. He continued to swerve from lane to lane and into the shoulder. The pursuit continued throughout west Pasco: south on Grand Boulevard, west on Moog Road, north again on 19 -- where other deputies joined the chase -- east on Hudson Avenue and north on Hicks Road. At Kitten Trail, Rickard's van hit a guide wire and blew out a transformer, deputies said, but continued east to Oakwood Drive. Rickard drove on even though his tires were flat from running over a device deputies had laid on 19. He headed north on Hays Road, east on Peace Boulevard, south on Shady Hills Road and east on Caldwell Lane. Rickard jumped from the car and ran into woods near the Suncoast Parkway, where he was tracked by law enforcement dogs and a helicopter, deputies said. He was arrested at 3:54 a.m. Deputies did not say Saturday how fast Rickard or patrol cars were traveling. The chase began because Jude thought Rickard was in danger because of his erratic driving, the deputy wrote in his report. Rickard was being held Saturday at county jail in Land O'Lakes in lieu of $5,250 bail.
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