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Pinellas Deputies: Fleeing Driver Plunges Into Ravine

News Channel 8 photo by RUGENE MOORE

The driver missed a turn and plunged 35 feet into a ravine, Pinellas County sheriff's deputies said.

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TBO.com

Published: September 26, 2008

A St. Petersburg man with a history of traffic violations plunged 35 feet into a ravine while trying to elude authorities early this morning, the Pinellas County Sheriff's Office said.

Benjamin W. Vandermeir failed to stop at a stop sign at 37th Street North and 46th Avenue North in Lealman at 12:15 a.m. and fled when a deputy tried to pull him over, investigators said.

Vandermeir pulled away from the deputy and went north on 40th Street North, missing a turn on Lown Street and plowing through a chain-link fence and into a ravine, deputies said.

Emergency workers helped remove the 22-year-old from his 1990 Red Ford Thunderbird and took him to Bayfront Medical Center for treatment.

"Our rescue units accessed the situation and realized we were going to need the tech rescue team, the Pinellas County heavy rescue team, to come out to help extradite the patient," said Chief Richard Porter of the Lealman Special Fire Control District. "They had to cut the doors off with the Jaws of Life."

Vandermeir, of 5650 11th Ave. N., had his license revoked for five years in July, deputies said. He is charged with fleeing and eluding and with being a habitual traffic offender, both felonies.

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