Driver Flees Arrest, Endangers Deputies

A Dunedin man was arrested early Tuesday morning after he fled from law enforcement officers in Holiday and nearly struck an occupied patrol car with his SUV, according to Pasco County Sheriff’s deputies.

According to a probable cause affidavit, the incident started around 1:15 a.m. Tuesday when a deputy saw white Dodge Ramcharger drive off the road at the northeast corner of the intersection of Mile Stretch Drive and U.S. 19 in Holiday.

The deputy caught up to the Dodge and turned on the overhead lights of his patrol car to attempt a traffic stop. The driver of the SUV didn’t stop and drove east at the speed limit onto Darlington Road and then south onto Chancery Road. 

The deputy turned on his sirens, but the SUV continued, driving west on Longwood Avenue and then north on Grandin Street. At Grandin and Darlington, he turned west and then turned north onto U.S. 19 off at a high rate of speed, the report said. The deputy pulled into a parking lot.

Another deputy noticed the Dodge at the intersection of Bonila Road and U.S. 19. The Dodge had nearly struck the deputy minutes earlier, according to the deputy’s complaint affidavit.

The deputy turned on his overhead lights and parked in front of the Dodge at the intersection. The deputy got out of his patrol car and yelled at the Dodge driver to stop his vehicle and turn it off. Although at a red light, the driver revved his engine as the deputy arrived next to his vehicle.

The engine died. The deputy opened the driver’s door and reached inside the Dodge. As he did so, the driver restarted the vehicle and “slammed" it into drive. He accelerated at a high rate of speed. The door frame struck the deputy’s left arm, and a back tire nearly hit him. The deputy was not seriously injured.

The driver ran the light and sped off north on U.S 19.

Another deputy turned on the lights and siren of his patrol car in an attempt to clear the street at Darlington and U.S. 19, according to an affidavit. He stopped in the intersection with the patrol car facing east and blocking southbound traffic but leaving the northbound lane clear, according to an affidavit.

The driver of the Dodge turned the vehicle, crossed two lanes and “aimed his large SUV toward me at a high rate of speed,” according to the deputy. The deputy reversed his car, and the Dodge missed hitting it. The Dodge then narrowly avoided another vehicle, swerved and crashed into a ditch.

The driver of the Dodge, Dana Lauber, 24, of 629 Richmond St., Dunedin, was arrested and treated for injuries. He had a medical blood alcohol content level of .266, according to a Florida Highway Patrol report.

Both the Pasco Sheriff’s Office and the Florida Highway Patrol charged him with offenses.

The charges include:  

• Attempted First Degree Murder of a Law Enforcement Officer (PSO)
• Aggravated Assault on a Law Enforcement Officer   (PSO)
• Felony Fleeing to Elude (PSO)
• Resisting Officer with Violence (PSO)
• DUI Alchohol or Drugs (FHP)
• Second Degree Reckless Driving (FHP)
• 2 counts of DUI and Damage Property (FHP)