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Sheriff's Pursuit Leads To Car Crashes, Injuries

October 24, 2005

A man attempting to procure a driver's license using his deceased brother's name led Hernando and Pasco sheriffs on an extended chase which ended with car crashes and injuries. The chase wound south on U.S. 19 from Spring Hill into Port Richey. The pursuit ended in the parking lot of a Port Richey restaurant, and was punctuated by one crash and is being blamed for indirectly causing another.

The man, identified by authorities as Mark J. McGuire, fled the red Datsun 240SX and disappeared. Deputies continued searching for him that evening.

First, the Datsun smashed into an unmarked Hernando Sheriff's Office patrol car in the lot of a Port Richey Dunkin' Donuts, smashing out the patrol car's headlight; its driver, sheriff's Detective Neil Sullivan, suffered minor neck injuries.

When Pasco sheriff's Deputy John Ardolino heard of the chase, he put on his lights and pulled out through a red light at State Road 52 and Zimmerman Road, authorities said. Ardolino's patrol car was struck by a county-owned pickup truck; its driver, Frank J. Laton, didn't yield, according to a Florida Highway Patrol report. The crash ripped the bumper off Ardolino's patrol car and propelled the pickup into a Ford F-150 that had stopped on the side of the road. That impact sent the F-150's driver, Nathan E. Ragland of Holiday, to a local hospital. Ragland, 24, suffered pain in his neck, Pasco sheriff's spokesman Kevin Doll said. Laton, 72, of Port Richey was unhurt, according to the FHP. Charges are pending further investigation.

The events began about 10:30 a.m. when Mark McGuire - who has several birthdates on record, authorities said, but is thought to be in his 30s - tried to get the driver's license at the office on Forest Oaks Boulevard in Spring Hill. The man produced a Social Security card and some photo identification, trying to get a license in the name of Darren McGuire, who died in a car crash in Illinois when he was 17, Hernando sheriff's spokeswoman Deputy Donna Black said.

Suspicious employees summoned sheriff's detectives from next door, and the detectives questioned the man, Black said. 'He was being real evasive toward our detectives,' she said. 'They're saying, 'This picture obviously is not you,' and he's claiming his brother Mike was trying to use his identity.'

'The detectives are trying to check this all out, trying to figure out who was whom, and the guy was saying (he'd) really like to go. They didn't have anything to charge him with (at that time), so they released him.' That's when the man's behavior became rather suspicious: He sprinted into the parking lot and ran into the woods. Then a passer-by said she saw the man turn his shirt inside out and try to hitchhike along Forest Oaks Boulevard. Finally, Black said, he jumped into the Datsun, which had a Tennessee license plate, and left.

Hernando sheriff's Sgt. William Beetz tried to stop the Datsun at U.S. 19 and Applegate Drive, but the driver would not pull over. Once the car got to the Hernando-Pasco county line, the driver floored it, Black said. Pasco deputies responded to assist as Hernando deputies stopped pursuing at U.S. 19 and State Road 52, just north of the Dunkin' Donuts. That's where Detective Sullivan, in the unmarked Hernando patrol car, spotted the Datsun stopped. After he pulled in, the Datsun suddenly reversed, hitting Sullivan's car.

The Datsun ultimately was discovered outside Stacey's Homestyle Buffet, near Jasmine Boulevard in Port Richey. A pay stub in the car led investigators to a home on Judy Avenue in Hudson. McGuire was not there when police arrived, but the home belongs to his family members, Black said.

McGuire is facing felony charges from Hernando County for unauthorized possession of a driver's license and fraudulent criminal use of personal identification information, Black said. Further charges regarding the pursuit are likely from either Hernando or Pasco authorities.