A suspect fleeing a traffic stop by Pinellas County Sheriff’s Office deputies in May crashed into this ambulance, officials say. Four people were injured.Pinellas County SO/Facebook
The Pinellas County Sheriff’s Office is fulfilling its promise to seize cars from people who flee deputies.
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?”
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.
