A Sumter County sheriff’s captain said deputies did everything possible Thursday morning to try to avoid the outcome of a high-speed chase on southbound Interstate 75 that left a murder suspect dead.
“This is not the way we wanted this to end,” Capt. Tony Prevatt said Thursday afternoon at the Sumter sheriff’s administrative office on Powell Road in Wildwood.
The suspect, whose identity is being withheld pending notification of next of kin, was wanted in connection with a shooting in the parking lot of a Quality Inn hotel in Hernando early Thursday morning after an older man was found dead.
The suspect was fleeing from Citrus County sheriff’s deputies shortly after 9:30 a.m. when the chase moved into Sumter County on State Road 44. That’s when Sumter County sheriff’s deputies made multiple attempts to stop the suspect’s black Mercedes-Benz SUV.
“We deployed several deputies out on the side of State Road 44 to lay out their Stop Sticks to try and stop this vehicle,” Prevatt said. “But he would slow his speed down and drive around the Stop Sticks. He was going around like a maze. We probably had 10 officers out there trying to prevent this guy from getting up on the interstate or continuing to flee.”
Once the chase moved to I-75, Prevatt said, the decision was made to attempt a PIT (Precision Immobilization Technique) maneuver to end it. That technique involves a law enforcement officer steering rapidly into the side of another vehicle, which causes the driver to lose control and skid. In Thursday’s maneuver, which was executed by Sumter sheriff’s Maj. Chris Haworth, the Mercedes-Benz flipped onto its roof near a tree line in the median of the interstate. Prevatt and Capt. Pat Breeden also were riding in the sheriff’s patrol vehicle with Haworth, as they originally were heading to Bushnell when they received the call about the chase.
“We attempted to approach the vehicle safely but we could not,” Prevatt said. “We were told the suspect was still armed and dangerous. So we kept an eye on the car and called for our SWAT officers.”
A short time later, those SWAT team members approached the car and gave the suspects commands to show them his hands. He didn’t comply, fired at the deputies and they returned fire, Prevatt said.
“At that point, we were able to remove the suspect up on the edge of the interstate and start to render medical aid,” he said. “EMS was called in and the subject was later pronounced dead at the scene.”
Prevatt said the tragic outcome could have been prevented if the suspect had just followed the deputies’ commands.
“We are trained in this and we did the best we could do,” he said, adding that the six deputies involved in the shooting are on paid administrative leave per standard department policy. “It is unfortunate the way it had to end. That’s never the way we want it.”
Meanwhile, late Thursday afternoon motorists were still feeling effects of the incident. As portions of southbound I-75 remained closed so the Florida Department of Law Enforcement could complete its investigation, traffic congestion was quite evident at the intersection of SR 44 and U.S. 301.
Eastbound traffic was completely backed up over the bridge on SR 44, while the intersection was jammed up in all directions. Traffic laden with semi-trucks also was at a standstill on U.S. 301 heading toward the Florida Turnpike, which also was moving at a slower-than-normal pace.
One semi driver who was waiting to turn from SR 44 onto U.S. 301 acted surprised to learn the long delay she had faced was because of an officer-involved shooting.
“Oh my goodness,” she said. “I’ve been in this quite a while and I was wondering what was going on.”
