Deadly pursuit in Pinellas County

Thursday, January 26, 2006

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A police pursuit of a murder suspect ended in a deadly crash in St. Petersburg on Wednesday night.

Clearwater police said the incident began when Connecticut State Police asked them for help because they believed a suspect was believed to be staying at a mobile home park in the area.

When police arrived, the 38-year-old suspect took off in a station wagon near Nursery Road. That's when the chase began on U.S. 19 and East Bay Drive. They said the suspect ran a red light and tried to run a police supervisor off the road.

Police chased the suspect for seven miles until he clipped another vehicle at Martin Luther King Boulevard and Roosevelt Boulevard. Police said that's when they had to end the pursuit with a maneuver.

"The police car pushed the back of his car, causing it to spin out of control," Wayne Shelor of the Clearwater Police Department said. "That car spun out of control and stopped in the median for several seconds when inexplicably he put the car in gear and accelerated across the lanes."

Police said he crashed through two rows of fencing at the Village Lakes Condominiums and shot himself in the head.

He was taken to Bayfront Medical Center where he was pronounced dead. His name is being withheld until his family is notified.

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