By Lesley Cosme Torres
Tampa Bay Times
PINELLAS COUNTY, Fla. — The Pinellas County Sheriff’s Office is fulfilling its promise to seize cars from people who flee deputies.
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According to the sheriff’s office, there have been six vehicle seizures under a policy launched over a month ago that aims to reduce dangerous high-speed police chases.
Many other law enforcement agencies seize vehicles involved in felonies, but Pinellas is the first agency in the nation to enact a blanket seizure policy for evasion cases.
“It’s called the law, and it’s obvious people don’t care about it, so you’ve got to up the game. You’ve got to add additional consequences,” Pinellas County Sheriff Bob Gualtieri told the Tampa Bay Times. “Don’t run from the cops and follow the law. Why is that a hard concept?”
The sheriff’s office will seize vehicles during an arrest or at a later date if they suspect someone is trying to outrun them, Gualtieri said. If the driver doesn’t own the car, they will issue a written warning to the owner.
Those who flee deputies will be charged with felonies, he added.
According to Gualtieri, attempts to flee law enforcement can lead to fatal consequences. At a June news conference, he cited a crash in October 2022 that left a teen dead and a high-speed crash that overturned an ambulance and injured four people in May.
From 2019 to 2022, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration found a 40% increase in fatal crashes from police pursuits compared to the previous three-year period. Those crashes left 1,919 people dead.
“When a person doesn’t stop and they flee, they flee at a high rate of speed. They’re driving dangerously and that’s a problem,” Gualtieri said. “They’re running from the cops and driving in a reckless manner, that’s what endangers others.”
Leslie Sammis, a criminal defense attorney in Tampa, says the policy is different from other law enforcement agencies’ across the state, which she says are making it easier for police officers to engage in high-speed chases.
“I think (Gualtieri) is indicating that they’re going to be a lot more aggressive in fighting these cases,” Sammis said. “They’re probably going to be a lot less willing to return vehicles under this policy.”
This more aggressive stance will hopefully decrease the number of people trying to flee from police, Sammis said.
Bryant Scriven, a Tampa defense attorney, says in his experience handling seizure cases, not everyone is trying to outrun police. Some people may be driving down the street to stop, or they might think police are asking someone else to pull over, he said.
“A lot of these cases get reduced or even dismissed,” Scriven said.
“If they’re going to be seizing all these cars, that’s going to be overwhelming for the court,” he said. “A lot of people are not going to be found guilty, yet they still have to go through the process of getting their car back, which is ridiculous.”
Osmany Gonzalez Rojas had his motorcycle seized under the policy. According to court records, a deputy tried to pull him over for speeding. He says he didn’t know there was a deputy behind him.
It was just before 8:30 a.m. June 11, the day Gualtieri said deputies began enforcing the seizure policy. Gonzalez Rojas, 20, was starting a job at a Verizon store on Walsingham Road. He said he had his AirPods on and didn’t hear sirens or see police lights.
“I went from a clean record to having a felony charge,” Gonzalez Rojas said. “The deputy didn’t want to hear s—t, either. He made it clear it was just a paycheck to him. He told me, ‘You did this at the worst time of the month.’ It didn’t matter what I said to him.”
According to an arrest report, the deputy caught up with Rojas at a red light after seeing him speeding. When the light turned green, the deputy activated his emergency lights and siren and directed Gonzalez Rojas to stop. The deputy wrote that Gonzalez Rojas looked back at him and accelerated.
In an interview with the deputy, Gonzalez Rojas admitted to improper driving and changing lanes, but said he did not see the deputy behind him, according to the report.
Gonzalez Rojas is facing felony charges of fleeing and eluding a police officer and carrying a concealed firearm while being under 21.
Because of the charges, Gonzalez Rojas was let go from his job that first day. He is from Cape Coral and said it was his first day in the county. “I will never be visiting Pinellas County ever again,” he said.
Under Florida’s civil forfeiture laws, anyone who has property seized is entitled to a court hearing to assess whether police had probable cause for the seizure. The owner also has the right to a jury trial.
After the vehicle owner is notified of the seizure, they have 15 days to request a hearing to overturn it. Otherwise, they will have to go before a jury. If the court rules in favor of the seizure, Gualtieri said, the sheriff’s office will then sell the vehicle.
Revenue from the sale will go into a forfeiture fund, where it will be distributed to charities like the Boys and Girls Club and other community programs, Gualtieri said.
If someone is incarcerated and wants to fight the seizure from jail, they need to write a letter to the sheriff’s office saying they wish to contest it, Scriven said.
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