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2 Officers Injured Chasing Suspects

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The Tampa Tribune

Published: March 4, 2009

St. Petersburg police officer Stephen Mathews had the day off Monday, 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 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 drug suspects 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 on assorted drug charges were Antwan Marquis Britt, 21, of 3940 55th S. N., St. Petersburg and Christopher Jerome Toliver, 20, of 2013 18th Ave. S., St. Petersburg.

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 gave this account:

The undercover detectives met Britt, Toliver and the third man in a Wal-Mart parking lot for the drug buy at about 1 p.m. 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 in a dark blue Suzuki four-door sedan, pursued by two undercover vehicles.

As Mathews joined the pursuit and rammed into the detectives' SUV, another officer disabled the Suzuki by hitting it with his car.

The undercover detectives are on paid administrative leave, standard procedure in an officer-involved shooting.
Federal Jury Convicts Man

TAMPA A 26-year-old man faces a possible death sentence after being convicted Tuesday on federal murder, robbery and drug charges in connection with the 2006 robbery of a Bartow drug house.

Jurors will return to court today to begin hearing evidence on whether to sentence Jermaine Michael Julian, of Winter Haven, to death for the slaying of Carlton Potts, 22.

This is the first federal death penalty trial in Tampa that officials can remember. The federal death penalty law was enacted in 1988 and expanded in 1994.

Prosecutors said Julian and at least two other men burst into a house carrying guns and beat the three occupants, including Potts. The victims were lined up on the floor and Julian fired his gun four times, although the weapon jammed three times. Potts was killed by a single gunshot wound through his chest.

The defense said the situation was not as prosecutors portrayed it, and that one of the drug dealers who lived in the house may have tampered with evidence.

The verdict came about two hours after jurors had told the judge they were deadlocked.

A staff report

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