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High-Speed Chase Begins In Polk, Ends In Hillsborough

Tribune photo by GREG FIGHT

A K-9 deputy arrests the last of five suspects who fled a traffic stop in Lakeland, leading police on a high speed chase into Hillsborough County. The suspect was seen by residents as he ran from back yard to back yard along Black Dairy Rd. and they alerted neaby police who had been searching the area.

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By JOSH POLTILOVE | The Tampa Tribune

Published: January 16, 2008

Updated: 01/16/2008 04:36 pm

Five Tampa residents in a stolen truck led deputies on a high-speed pursuit that began in Polk County late this morning and ended off Interstate 4 in east Hillsborough County.

The five are people of interest in at least five residential burglaries in the Lakeland area, a Polk County Sheriff's Office release says.

This morning, they jumped out of a 2003 Ford F-250 pickup and fled through a parking lot at Camping World, 6102 Lazy Days Blvd., in Seffner.

Four people were caught shortly after getting out of the truck. The fifth was captured about 2 p.m.

The five people being booked into Falkenburg Road Jail are Donald C. Steadman Jr., 19; Deontray D. Clark, 19; Patrick O. Rivers, 15; Termaine A. Newton, 16; and Quinton T. Thompson, 18.

All are charged with grand theft auto, burglary and grand theft, aggravated fleeing to elude and resisting arrest without violence, a sheriff's office release says.

The fifth person was hiding in the backyard of a house on Black Dairy Road when bystander Matt Tankersley saw him. Tankersley waved down police while another bystander, Willie Smith, advised the person to surrender.

"Give it up, cuz," Smith said he told the person.

The person asked Smith where he lived, Smith said. Smith said his response was a curse but no information.

The person then fled into other backyards, Smith said, at one point jumping into a boat. He was caught at a house at Black Dairy Road and East Sligh Avenue.

The incident began about 10:46 a.m. after deputies responded to a burglary at 520 Hunters Run Blvd. in Lakeland. A neighbor witnessed two people taking a television and provided a description of them and the vehicle they were driving, a sheriff's office news release states.

An undercover detective tried to stop the truck, which had been reported stolen out of Riverview, when it fled west on I-4, according to the release.

Deputies began pursuit, using a helicopter to maintain visual contact. Ground units also pursued the truck.

The truck sideswiped a tractor-trailer, but neither vehicle crashed, the release states. The tractor-trailer had minor damage. The driver was not injured but was taken to a hospital to be sure he was OK.

The stolen vehicle tried to leave the interstate near Exit 10 and crashed. A television and other electronic equipment were in the vehicle's back seat.

The occupants bailed out of the truck near Camping World.

"They stormed through the parking lot and out the back," said Efrain Forte, manager of Camping World, a recreational vehicle and camping equipment center. He was speaking right after the foot chase began near his workplace. "It's crazy. It's crazy. We've got dogs. We've got helicopters out here."

Camping World warehouse employee Jason Morgan said two employees of nearby Lazydays RV SuperCenter used a golf cart to chase two of the fleeing people. One darted into a parking lot, and the other sprinted past Camping World's warehouse, Morgan said.

The Lazydays employees called out for help, and Morgan started chasing the person nearest him, he said. He chased the person for about 250 feet and grabbed him when he was about to climb a fence.

"After I started thinking about it, it was pretty stupid," Morgan said. "I don't know if this guy has a gun. I had two kids at home, and I was putting myself at risk."

Morgan, 29, said he instinctively chased the person.

Carlos Hernandez of Riverview said his 2003 Ford F-250 was stolen about 8 a.m. today while he was arriving to do air conditioning work for Brookside apartments at 5008 Sierra Place in Tampa.

The truck was reported stolen to Tampa police, Tampa police Cpl. Jared Douds said. Its license tag is the same of the Ford involved in the crash.

"He said that the cops act real quick and he's really proud of them," Hernandez's supervisor, Manuel Oswald Ayala, said after learning of the chase.

Hillsborough County deputies, Lakeland police, the Highway Patrol, the Department of Transportation and the Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission were involved in the case.

Researcher Melanie Coon, photographer Greg Fight, reporter Billy Townsend and News Channel 8 photojournalist Paul Lamison contributed to this report. Reporter Josh Poltilove can be reached at jpoltilove@tampatrib.com or (813) 259-7691.

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