02x02 - Full Throttle

[bunniefuu]

got eyes on him.

This was the first time ever

in the history of this area

that we've ever had a vessel pursuit.

A chase with a runaway U-Haul truck.

We deal with people

that are armed all the time.

What are we gonna

do next if it doesn't work?

You never know what

your bad guy is thinking.

He does not wanna be caught by the police

and there's definitely a reason why.

Put your hands up! Put your hands up!

Venice is centered right here

in the middle of Southwest Florida.

We're about an hour south of Tampa

and an hour of north of Fort Myers.

My name is Paul Joyce.

I work for the city of Venice

Police Department

and I work in the Marine division.

Our job is keeping

people safe and educated.

Making sure that they're

aware of the rules on the water.

I received a phone call

from Charlotte County Sheriff's

Marine unit and they advised me

of an incident that had

occurred earlier in the week

where there was some

home burglaries committed

and the suspect had stolen a vessel.

They described the vessel

as a 22-foot Pathfinder

powered by a single engine Yamaha.

About 3:30 in the afternoon,

I noticed a vessel approaching

me from the opposite direction.

And then I looked at the boat.

I'm going, "That looks familiar."

I immediately notified our dispatch,

told him that the vessel of the BOLO

that I received earlier

that day has just passed me.

Within a few seconds, the air unit

had taken off from our local airport

here in Venice and was over top of us.

I immediately broke off,

went to the local marina

and picked up Officer Brooks.

When you're out on

the water by yourself usually,

there's no one that can get

to you if the situation goes wrong.

So to have somebody else

on the boat is essential for our job.

My name's Officer Joshua Brooks.

I'm with the Venice Police

Department and I'm a patrol officer.

He's right over there by the county park.

He's trying to get access to it now.

We'll advice if he gets on land or not.

What's the story on this?

He's not acting like

this is a stolen boat.

He's got a female and a dog on

there, some fishing poles.

Has he been previously identified?

The suspect had stolen a vessel.

And after that, they believe

he came into Charlotte County

and committed some

burglaries from that vessel.

He's identified as

the suspect from the burglaries.

And also the suspect

who stole that vessel.

There's a lot going

through my head at the time.

I don't know who's on the boat.

I don't know if they have

a criminal history

or if they could be dangerous.

You could have knives on board.

Also, you are allowed

to carry a sidearm with you

if you're actively fishing.

All right dispatch, it looks like

the boat is actually fleeing.

He's northbound, headed

off under the Albee Bridge.

So we'll call this and if you

wanna just stay back on him.

We'll keep an eye on.

Looks like he's gonna try

to bail on land somewhere.

We'll let you know when he does.

That's just when my heart skipped

a beat and the adrenaline kicks in.

Dispatch, can we get some other

units? Send them down here.

This was the first time

ever in the history of this area

that we've ever had

a documented vessel pursuit.

So this was all gonna be new

and things are racing

through my head going,

"We gotta make sure that we get this

guy stopped and stopped quickly."

Dispatch, he's approaching marker 15.

I don't know if there will

be other units in the area.

But you may all notify them

and let them know what's goin on.

I was actually

at the North Siesta Key Bridge

when I received a call from dispatch.

I'm Officer Michael Skinner.

I'm with the Sarasota Police

Department Marine Patrol Division.

When I heard Officer Joyce

come over the VHF radio,

I knew that I had to get down there quick.

When I arrived on scene, it was stressful.

You have the 40-mile-an-hour

wind in your ears,

you're listening to the radio.

You have three different

agencies on the channel

and you begin to categorize what is

the outcome of this pursuit gonna be?

Why is the suspect not stopping?

Dispatch Patrol Marine 33

is also on the fourth sign.

Additional backup is very vital

whether it's on land or on the water

because you wanna get

as many officers you can

to get this vessel stopped

as quick as possible.

Standby just a second.

I'm on the camera.

Dispatch, as you wait, inform the EMS

Shortly.

Get any, um, gestures

or anything like that

I had Officer Joyce to my left,

Deputy Adams to my right,

and the helicopter above.

He's got quite a bit of outline there.

He's gonna try to get out of the

We have three law enforcement

vessels pursuing this one vessel.

So now we need to start

coming up with a strategy

of getting this boat to stop.

53 to center, do you have

any heavy line on your boat?

- I got 20 box in.

- He's not stopping.

We can try to get a rope

in front of this guy maybe?

Obviously, we don't have tires on boats,

but what we do have that

controls the boat, uh, is a prop,

and that's what's on

the bottom of a motor.

And once that prop stops,

it stops the boat from going anywhere.

I saw the two officers

on board Officer Joyce's boat

preparing a large ball

of tangled line with floats on it.

They were going to attempt to get

that in front of the suspect's boat

and attempt to foul the propeller

to cause the boat to stall out.

The best-case scenario

is they deploy the prop foul

and this fleeing vessel comes to a stop.

Worst-case scenario,

the prop foul is deployed

and I get entangled in it.

We got into position, Officer

Brooks deployed the mechanism.

It deployed perfectly into the water.

He ran over it, but what we didn't

take in account was our speeds.

Our speeds were greater

than 35 miles an hour.

And when your speeds are

greater than 35 miles per hour,

it raises your boat higher

up out of the water,

so the motors completely missed

the device and drove right over it.

That prop foul ended up

traveling underneath that boat

and came right up in front of me.

I only have seconds to react.

This prop foul gets

caught in my propeller,

then I'm out

of the pursuit. I'm done.

I passed neutral and went into reverse.

I was relieved that

I didn't hit the prop foul

and I restarted my boat

and I got back into the pursuit.

Marine 33, give me a second.

Yo! Slow down!

We tried getting him

to stop with lights and sirens.

He did not comply. He kept going.

Just pull over, man.

Yo! Just back her down!

So we tried pulling up next to him,

yelling at him to stop the boat

Again, he kept going.

Yo. Think about her, think about her.

Think about her.

You'll be fine, bro. Just slow down.

Hey, I'm just saying dude.

You can't outdrive me.

His girlfriend wants

to get out of the boat

Yeah, she wants out.

She's screaming to him several

times and he's not listening to her.

Yeah, I told him he had nowhere to go.

And he's trying to comfort her

cause she wants him to stop.

We tried reasoning with

the female that was on the boat,

trying to get her to talk to him

to get him to stop, he didn't do it.

At those speeds,

you're in an open c*ck,

if you were to strike shallow

water, uh, another vessel,

you're gonna be ejected from that vessel.

The worst-case scenario

is somebody getting hurt,

somebody getting

seriously injured or dying.

Pull over, man!

You're gonna try go up to the bridge

where there's a pinch point

right in the middle

of the channel of the bridge.

The female and the dog are held down

quite below. They're by his feet.

We've trained in ways where we can

come up next to a suspect vessel

and deploy another officer off of our

vessel and onto the suspect vessel.

But the problem we had in this

instance is we had a dog on board.

We don't know what would be

going on through that dog's mind.

We don't know if he's aggressive.

We have to take that in consideration too

'cause it's not just about the safety

of us and the general boaters,

we have to think about

the safety of everyone else too,

including the suspect.

Dispatch we are enroute

to 048, Brooksdale Drive.

Looks like he's about

to try to bail on Pine island.

He just turned around and went

back Westbound again.

With 15 minutes into it,

he began to look around.

Is this gonna come to an end

because he's looking

for a place to ditch the boat.

Is he gonna pull it up on a beach?

Looks like he's headed towards

the Stump Pass area, southbound.

Back there in some of the shallow

areas in the islands.

We start approaching Stump Pass

and it's very shallow in that area.

I'm relying heavily on the

electronics that I have on board,

hoping that the depth

that it's showing me in that area

is consistent with the area that I'm in.

Looks like the BPD boat's back off

'cause they went in to the shallow waters

and the SPD boats is still 10-1 with them.

They're the ones that are

closest to the suspect now.

All right, I'll stand by,

we only have two boats, so

The Florida Fish and Wildlife Commission,

otherwise known as FWC, works that area.

The FWC boat goes in

and follows the suspect

probably because they're familiar

with the waterways back there.

It's really just mangroves

and water all around them.

And I was very excited that, okay,

this is finally gonna come to an end

and we're gonna catch the guy

and be able to put handcuffs on him.

That area is very mucky and very shallow.

At that point, not being familiar

and seeing how shallow it was,

I backed off a little bit and

pulled alongside Deputy Adams.

He's trying to turn around and

comeback towards you though.

He's in very shallow water.

No, he's still Just trying

to work his way out of it.

It's too shallow for them to get up there,

so he's trudging through it.

But he's trying to get back

towards you guys, so standby.

I knew that this was our opportunity

that the boat's not moving fast.

I'm in a stopped position.

I have another boat next to me.

We can formulate a plan

to get his vessel stopped.

He's moved. Slowly making

his way back towards you guys.

I'll advise when he gets closer.

Hearing the radio traffic that

he's making his way back towards us,

I pulled Deputy Adams,

I have a line on board.

It's not typically made to foul prop,

but this may work. Let's try it.

Throw that here.

You got a hook?

- This might work.

- He's gonna come through here.

We can just pull the line

up enough and then let it go, and

Looks like he's starting

to move a bit faster now. Stand by.

He has moved. Slowly making

his way back towards you guys.

So I sat there like,

"We got him. Just come on out."

Nine-four.

- 10-4, do a 15.

- He's coming back towards

the entrance to that channel

that he went into originally.

And he's back up on plain again.

and realized that

as the sound of the motor

has got further and further that,

"He definitely is not coming

out this way anymore."

He backed out.

He's taken a different

route and we'll scratch this

Scratch this plan.

We're gonna go ahead.

Marine 71 is gonna go ahead

in the 10-56 spot.

Now he's coming back towards me.

He's back northbound to begin

now and actually go to you.

The problem was he's now coming into

a very popular area called Ski Alley.

He's headed towards Ski Alley.

Northbound towards Chadwick.

I thought, "I can predict

this individual's behavior,"

but "Really, what's

he gonna do next?"

Takes a U through Chadwick

over to Back to the ICW.

There was a personal

watercraft, a jet ski in the area.

Worst-case scenario, he doesn't stop

and he finds himself colliding

with another person or vessel.

Let's see if he comes back

again, but they can't get

in these shallow areas

where he's navigating now.

Looks like the Charlotte County

boat is the closest to him.

Anytime you're in a pursuit, you can

get tunnel vision on what's going on.

Yeah, I see him now.

Back out now along the houses.

Looks like he's trying to bail

back in a small marina.

It dawned on me that FWC didn't have

the same communication radios that we had

and they didn't hear

any of this radio traffic.

So that's when I then began

to get back in the pursuit

to catch up to them

to relay this information.

We got you. Just 10-3

for now then. Just stay out there.

Ultimately, we wanna catch

the bad guy. That's the point.

You're thinking,

"What can I do to stop him?"

And you're usually right up on him.

The good thing about

having Air-1 available

was they could see the whole picture.

They had that view from up top.

They could see where he was going

and the direction he was leading us in.

There's only 10 gallons

of fuel on that boat, total.

Air-2 to those boats

that are still in pursuit,

I'm wondering if we can

get them to back off?

They said, uh, back off.

Air-2 is gonna follow them.

Follow on a safe distance.

They want him to run

to a house or something

so they can get him on land.

Air-2 said they want him to go to land.

- Oh, really?

- Yeah. They just said "Back off."

Marine 71 to Air-2.

Air-2, another law enforcement

vessel coming from the south

- Right on. Do you copy?

- Yeah.

Passing Georgia avenue.

Georgia avenue ramp side.

Going southbound against the east shore.

Get trail on Brittany circle

or the closest cross streets.

He's gonna have to end it.

It's gonna be tougher

if he can turn around there. If we

can get units on that direction.

19-48 Massachusetts.

He's on foot bailing and running.

Southbound on land.

Near 31 Massachusetts avenue.

Once he jumped off the boat

and took off on land on foot,

it opens up to a variety

of different avenues now.

You know, does he know the area?

Is he gonna run into someone's home?

You know, so now the whole thing

changes, the whole dynamic changes.

Southbound Waterside drive.

Southbound Waterside drive

I'm on Waterside.

- We gotta bail, like, we're gonna

- 28-31 Waterside drive.

Look to your left, just straight

ahead. Go straight down.

I'm on Waterside.

- 28-50 Waterside headed towards

- Air-1, I'm on foot. Where is he at?

55 Mangrove.

Get in the Mangrove place.

He went to a heavily wooded area.

10-4, I need an update on this channel.

55 Mangrove, please.

1-12, we got him into custody.

We had multiple land units

in the area where we were.

They were all in the right spot.

At the point that the suspect

ran out of the woods

and was greeted

by the Charlotte County Deputies,

he just at that point threw up his arms,

went down on the ground, and just gave up.

Police pursuit on the water

over the weekend.

A boat stolen out of Lee County

leading law enforcement on a pursuit

through Venice and into

Charlotte County waters.

The boat was spotted by Venice Police,

but it took off as Venice PD pursued,

Charlotte County officials

joining in on that chase.

The suspect,

he's seen here, Tristan Royer,

arrested and charged

with grand theft of a motor vehicle.

It's a relief to have him off the water.

Hopefully, he's taken

a motor safety course.

And instead of stealing

a boat, maybe he'll rent one.

Just less risk involved with that, so.

It was a pretty

typical shift. The initial call

was in a neighborhood

called Orange Blossom Hills.

This U-Haul truck had pulled up

in front of somebody's house

and they loaded up a motorcycle

and stole it and took off.

I decided to go look for this truck.

This is a neighborhood

that we're in all the time.

I have worked for the Marion County

Sheriff's Office for 16 years.

I am a corporal assigned to the K9 unit.

Jax is my K9 partner.

We're going 10-15 on him.

I could see the glow of this U-Haul.

When I first saw the truck, I was

like, "Awesome. We got a U-Haul."

But we don't know if it's the U-Haul.

It took off down into that neighborhood

and it actually blacked out.

He knew I was trying

to pull him over from the get go.

Maybe that stolen motorcycle's

in the back of it right now.

It's gonna be a U-Haul. Southbound.

It's probably related

to that motorcycle theft.

When Deputy Batts keyed up on the radio,

at that moment, it's all hands on deck.

We need to get out here and assist.

All right, we're cutting

through the bar parking lot here.

Westbound.

Through this parking lot

Heading towards 42.

When pursuits are initiated, there

is always that adrenaline dump of,

"Hey, this is happening.

We need to get there now."

This truck is a U-Haul moving truck.

It probably stands 12 to 15 foot tall.

There's some weight to it.

For a full-sized

moving truck, this thing was fast.

96-4 northbound, 163rd street.

Driving in a reckless manner like that

through a neighborhood is always a danger,

which is just amplified

by the size of the U-Haul.

I got another patrol here with me now.

Southbound.

You just passed us 92nd

He saw you do south,

and now he's gonna go back north.

Even if it was the middle of the night,

we don't have to worry too much

about people being out and about.

That being said,

this is a commercial vehicle.

Had he lost control of this vehicle,

he could've set this thing

right into someone's living room.

63rd westbound

He knows he's not gonna

be able to outrun a patrol car,

but I think that the driver thought

that maybe he could outdrive me.

Now we're sticking northbound.

10-4, we're going north

I'll give it to him, he could

drive. He could drive that truck.

Westbound in 61st street.

- Dead end.

- Northbound

It turned into a dirtroad.

I've got less clearance in my

vehicle, so he had an advantage

going through there, believe it or not.

Hew cut through this next

neigborhood to the North,

he knows exactly where he's going.

Okay, he just went over a jump.

And we're cutting back southbound,

back to the neighborhood

through the south.

This guy knows this road

and knows exactly where he's going.

That wasn't really even a lime

rock road, it was just a trail.

He just sent it right through there.

Guys, it's gonna be a dual U-Haul.

With this being a dual rear wheel vehicle,

meaning it's got four rear tires

as opposed to two rear tires,

we're not gonna be able to affect

a PIT maneuver on this vehicle.

It simply won't work.

What the patrol guys did, they formed

a box outside of this neighborhood.

They set up Stop Sticks on Highway 42.

So no matter which way he goes,

he's gonna hit these Stop Sticks.

Hitting the road and came back up at 42.

Running eastbound over 25.

Soon as we hit Highway 42,

he started to really ramp up the speed.

Right, he's coming. Here it comes.

It was perfect timing.

We're finally could be able

to stop this big truck,

bring this pursuit to an end.

Losing those back two left tires.

50 miles an hour, he's bound 42.

He's got no tires on the drivers side.

You assume that the vehicle, at that

point, is gonna start to slow down.

But in this case,

the driver did the opposite.

We didn't get all tires,

but three out

of the six tires in the driver side.

Hold on, guys.

I don't want to try to pit him.

It's a dually.

Let's see what happens here.

Come on, bro. Just stop the truck.

Stop the truck.

You got nowhere to go.

I don't know he could hear me

or not, but it was worth a shot.

Just stop the truck, buddy.

You got nowhere to go.

Just pull it over. It's over.

The driver got some

confidence behind the wheel.

He started to push his luck and

he started to push that speed.

We were listening on the radio

and it was obvious that

the vehicle wasn't going to stop.

And we ran out to the helicopter

and got ready to fire it up.

Because when we are requested,

it's generally they need us now.

Still eastbound. Speed's up to 50.

There was only one more red

light that he had to get through,

then from there on out, there

is just not a whole lot out there.

I hope there's nobody else coming

because this guy doesn't wanna stop.

His speed's getting back up again.

He may just lose control.

All right, he's lost all of his tires

on the driver side.

He's on nothing but the rim.

You all just watch out for debris.

His tires or his rims, are

hitting these yellow reflectors

and they're sh**ting up.

Driving on his rim is even more dangerous.

And how far is Air-1 to me?

Passing 272nd Court, still eastbound.

Passing through 272nd court, eastbound.

In that moment, I felt like

we were kind of at his mercy.

There were no Marion County

deputies to get ahead of his thing.

This is a busy intersection,

major highway, major exchange,

a vehicle of this size

and with no tires underneath,

it's like driving on ice.

So he does not have

any control of this large vehicle

as he's approaching this intersection.

- What speed is he on?

- Uh, 62.

He's been going about 60.

All right, that looked like

a good hit on the sticks.

With that U-Haul falling

apart out from under him,

you're thinking that this

has got to end anytime now.

All right, we're starting

to slow way down here.

All right, slow all

the way down. Stand by.

We've got to make a split second

decision to deploy our dog or not.

Could it be dangerous? Of course.

Could he be armed? Of course.

Stand by.

Wait for the dog!

Air-1, they're bailing on foot.

Stay back, guys! Here! Jax, here!

- Did you all see him?

- No.

Hold them right here,

guys. Jax, here!

The bailout unfortunately didn't work.

Jax never saw the driver bailing on foot.

I did proceed to see if Jax

would just naturally

pick up this driver's odor,

but we're going into super dark woods

and it's never good to just go

running blindly into

the woods after a fugitive,

in case they're setting up an ambush.

Have somebody check the car.

- What do you have?

- Did somebody check the car?

Yeah.

This person has led us

on a very long pursuit.

Obviously, they're

running for some reason.

We don't know what's behind this door.

Show me your hands. Don't move!

Both hands outside.

Open the door from the outside.

Step out.

Step out and face away from me.

- Is there anybody else in there?

- Nobody.

Step out and face away from me.

Face away and back up

to me. Back up. Back up.

And put your hands

on top of your head. Back up.

We got the passenger detained.

At this point, my thought is what

our deputies doing in the woods.

Are they okay?

You know where you're going?

I took four or five deputies

with me into the woods.

I was very grateful the helicopter

was able to get up and get eyes over this.

He's climbing a tree.

Air-1, he's climbed up in a pine tree.

All right Air-1, bring me to him.

Knowing the helicopter

had the individual in sight

was a huge relief.

They're gonna be able

to direct us straight to him.

We're just in the middle

of the national forest,

so we don't know what's up

ahead of us. Is he armed?

All right, I got you. Keep going

straight the way you're going.

He's gonna be above 50, 60 yards then.

Here. Up.

- Straight ahead.

- Where?

- I can't here them.

- Left, left, left.

With us being so far out of county,

the radio reception was spotty.

My radio really wasn't working at all

so I was having to rely on other deputies

to tell me what the helicopter was saying.

He jumped down of the

tree. He started moving.

He's going away from you,

further into the woods.

I am on him like ants on honey.

I am there. I am on him.

I'm not letting him go.

Here, straight ahead.

Straight ahead.

Here.

Jax, here! Stay back.

Sheriff's office, you're under arrest!

He's about ten yards.

You're right there in the area.

To your right. He looks like

he's on the base of a tree.

Here!

- Hey!

- Show me your hands!

- Let me see him.

- Show me your hands!

Turn around. Turn around,

come back this way.

Put your hands up!

He had a weird look on his face.

I could not see his hands and

I was starting to get concerned.

Okay, this guy may have a weapon on him.

- Don't fight the dog.

- Please, get the dog off me.

- Please, get the dog off me.

- Cuffs.

Please, can you get the dog

off me? Please. The dog?

I got one in. I got one in.

- Don't fight the dog!

- I'm not!

Okay, please, get the dog off me.

Stop. Once you get

handcuffs, he'll come off!

- All right. He's in.

- Stand up.

Finally. It was a sigh of relief.

Okay. We got

this guy in handcuffs.

We're done. We're clear.

And happy that we caught our guy.

Have a seat. Get in the car.

- Can I at least get my

- No. Get in the car. Now.

Move your hands.

Well, good job.

We were able to respond very

well to this incident as an agency.

But it's not every day that

somebody takes a U-Haul box

and leads us on a miles long pursuit.

Do we believe it was them that stole

this motorcycle to begin with?

Absolutely. Unfortunately,

the bike was not

in the back of the U-Haul

in that timeframe.

They could've already

gotten rid of the bike.

You got anything on your pockets?

- You got a warrant?

- You got a warrant, I know that.

- What you got in here?

- What?

- What is this in your pockets?

- Nothing. I don't know. Honestly.

- Yeah, we're taking this.

- Straight ahead. Straight ahead.

I immediately recognized

the thing with Skylar Adkins

from prior dealings with him

both inside the jail and on patrol.

So, I knew who he was and

I knew he have an active warrant.

He was detained and placed

in the back on the patrol car

while his warrant was being confirmed.

- This was on his pocket?

- Yeah.

He's also got a warrant, Skylar Adkins.

After his warrant was confirmed

he was placed under arrest.

A search of his person yielded narcotics

that he had been concealing on his person.

Marion County Sheriff's deputies

are showing us video of a chase

with a runaway U-Haul truck.

On June 18th,

deputy spotted the U-Haul truck

matching a description

of one used to steal a motorcycle.

The driver, 34-year-old Delvin Mark Brown,

and a passenger,

26-year-old Skylar Adkins,

were arrested on theft and drug charges.

I didn't expect this.

This was the longest pursuit

that I've been involved in.

That's what I like most about my job

is just you never know

what each shift is gonna bring.