Off-Duty Fire Chief Tried To Run Over Bicyclist: Pinellas Sheriff

REDINGTON SHORES, FL — An off-duty district fire chief with the St. Pete Beach Fire Department faces charges after trying to run over a bicyclist Thursday afternoon in Redington Shores, according to a Pinellas County Sheriff’s Office news release.

Thomas McClave, 55, was charged with aggravated assault with a motor vehicle and simple battery. He was arrested just after 5 p.m.

The victim, 58-year-old Gregory Hicks, was riding his bicycle in the shared bicycle/vehicle travel lane south on Gulf Boulevard near 175th Avenue while McClave was driving his personal pick-up truck behind him.

McClave pulled alongside Hicks and yelled for him to get out of the roadway, the sheriff’s office said.

After they briefly yelled at each other, Hicks rode his bicycle onto the raised median of Gulf Boulevard.

McClave followed Hicks in his pick-up truck, intentionally driving onto the raised median and nearly hitting the bicyclist, who had to swerve out of the way, the sheriff’s office said.

He got out of his truck and approached Hicks, shoving him twice in the chest and knocking a cell phone, which was being used to record the incident, out of the bicyclist’s hands, deputies said.

McClave has been employed with the St. Pete Beach Fire Department as a district chief since November. He was booked into the Pinellas County Jail.