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Deputies: Man Arrested In Seffner After Rape Try, Chase

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TBO.com

Published: September 4, 2008

  Gary Eugene Adams

TAMPA - First, deputies say, Gary Eugene Adams and another man tried to kidnap and rape a woman they found walking along a road.

After the 23-year-old woman escaped, Adams tried to run down a Hillsborough County Sheriff's Office deputy who tried to stop him, and then he sped away, running red lights and crossing into oncoming lanes, according to the sheriff's office.

When deputies used tire disabling devices to stop his sport utility vehicle in Seffner, Adams, 21, ran away. The same deputy he had tried to run over caught him. So Adams punched the deputy before being zapped with a stun gun and arrested, according to arrest affidavits.

Adams, who told deputies he worked for a temporary employment agency, was charged early this morning with kidnapping; being an accessory to attempted sexual battery; using a motor vehicle in an aggravated assault on a law enforcement; aggravated fleeing and eluding; battery on a law enforcement officer; resisting an officer with violence; and knowingly driving while his license was suspended.

According to affidavits, here's what happened:

A woman was walking east along Hillsborough Avenue near an Interstate 4 overpass at 1:35 a.m. when Adams pulled over and offered her a ride. She refused. Adams and a male passenger offered their cell phones so the woman could call a friend.

As the woman stood near the vehicle using the cell phone, the passenger grabbed her by the hair and dragged her into the back seat as Adams sped away. The passenger began groping the woman. She screamed for him to stop and for help. The woman punched, kicked and scratched the passenger, then jumped out of the moving vehicle on Turkey Creek Road. She then ran to a friend's house.

The woman had minor injuries to her left foot, toe, leg and arm.

About 2:15 a.m., a deputy responded to Turkey Creek Road in Plant City and encountered Adams in a silver Lincoln Navigator.

He accelerated while steering the SUV toward the deputy, who had to jump out of the way to avoid being hit. Adams then sped away, running red lights and driving into oncoming lanes. He was stopped at Lakeview Avenue and Dr. Martin Luther King Boulevard in Seffner when deputies deployed devices to puncture the SUV's tires.

Adams got out of the Navigator and tried to run. The deputy caught him, and Adams punched him on the mouth. The deputy then used a Taser on Adams and arrested him.

Stay with TBO.com for updates.

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