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St. Pete Officer Mistakenly Rams SUV Carrying Undercover Cops

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TBO.com

Published: March 3, 2009

St. Petersburg police officer Stephen Mathews had the day off today, but when he heard radio transmissions of shots fired during a drug bust gone wrong, he decided he had to help.

Mathews, already in his marked police car in Coquina Key, drove toward Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Street South to join his fellow officers who were chasing three drug suspects.

When Mathews spotted a dark-colored sport utility vehicle driving toward him, he thought the men wanted by police were in the vehicle, authorities say. Mathews rammed his patrol car into the SUV's side, which then flipped.

The accused drug dealers weren't inside, though. Two undercover detectives chasing the suspects were.

Mathews, 24, and the detectives were taken to a local hospital, where they were treated for minor injuries and released, St. Petersburg police spokesman Bill Proffitt said in a written statement.

The men police pursued were eventually stopped in the 700 block of 42nd Ave. S.

Arrested were: Antwan Marquis Britt, 21, of 3940 55th S. N., St. Petersburg and Christopher Jerome Toliver, 20, of 2013 18th Ave. S., St. Petersburg.

Britt was charged with armed robbery and felon in possession of a firearm. Toliver was charged with principal to armed robbery, sale and possession of cocaine and attempted sale and possession of a counterfeit drug.

A third person was taken into custody, but his name was withheld by police because they said he is a witness in the case.

Proffitt gives this account of how events unfolded about 1 p.m. today:

The undercover detectives met Britt, Toliver and the third man in a Wal-Mart parking lot for the drug buy. During the deal, Britt took out a 9 mm handgun and robbed one of the detectives.

Both detectives fired at the men. No one was injured.

Britt, Toliver and the other man fled the parking lot in a dark blue Suzuki four-door sedan, going east into the nearby Lakewood Estates neighborhood. Two undercover vehicles pursued the suspects through the neighborhood.

As off-duty officer Mathews joined the pursuit and rammed into the detectives' SUV, Britt was driving north on Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Street South. Britt turned east on Bayou Boulevard South, where St. Petersburg police officer Barry Books pulled behind the Suzuki.

Books drove the front of his car into the Suzuki as it slowed for a turn. The Suzuki's front tires were damaged in the collision, which forced Britt to stop the car.

The undercover detectives, whose names were not released by the St. Petersburg Police Department, are on paid administrative leave, which is standard procedure in an officer-involved shooting.

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