 |
||||||||
 |
||||||||
|
||||||||
|
3-county chase ends in arrest
By MICHAEL SANDLER © St. Petersburg Times, published November 20, 2000 TAMPA -- A Zephyrhills man was arrested early Sunday after leading deputies on a chase across three counties, officials said. Steven Russell Brown, 27, of 41118 Lynbrook Lane, eluded deputies for 35 minutes while racing through Hillsborough, Pasco and Polk counties, according to the Hillsborough County Sheriff's Office. Polk County deputies eventually halted him on U.S. 98 with a blockade of stop sticks, spiked bars laid across the road, that deflated the tires of his silver Acura. No one was injured during the chase, which never exceeded 85 mph. That's the maximum speed deputies are allowed to maintain without further authorization, said Harold Winsett, a spokesman for Hillsborough County Sheriff's Office. Hillsborough deputies saw Brown, a felon, in the University area at 12:11 a.m. They checked the status of his license plate, and when records showed the plate was stolen, deputies signaled for him to stop. Brown did not cooperate, and the chase began heading east on Fletcher Avenue and then north on Morris Bridge Road into Pasco County. Near Zephyrhills, Brown turned east on State Road 54 and followed it to U.S. 98 in Polk County, where deputies apprehended him at 12:46 a.m, just north of Interstate 4 near Lakeland. Although the license plate came up stolen, Winsett said deputies think the car legally belongs to Brown, but are still investigating. In addition, Brown had an outstanding warrant for failing to appear in court on previous drug charges. Records show Brown had been arrested 12 other times in Hillsborough County and once in Pasco County, where he was sentenced in 1991 to one year in prison for a 1990 charge of aggravated assault with a weapon without intent to kill. The majority of his other charges were for drug or traffic violations for which he received probation. Brown was charged Sunday with obtaining a controlled substance by fraud and aggravated fleeing to elude -- both felony charges -- and misdemeanor charges of reckless driving, driving with a canceled, suspended or revoked license and attaching a tag not assigned. He was being held at Hillsborough County Jail after failing to post $3,800 bail.
 © 2006 • All Rights Reserved • St. Petersburg Times
490 First Avenue South • St. Petersburg, FL 33701 • 727-893-8111 
|
From the Times |
