Dragged Tampa cop: 'I wasn't going to let go'

Officer Kiet Truong talks about being dragged by a car for four blocks. [Skip O'Rourke | Times]

TAMPA -- Scabs and scars dotting his face and forearms, Officer Kiet Truong said the danger of dying didn't cross his mind until the next morning.

Truong, 32, was the Tampa police officer dragged and dropped from a speeding car late Sunday. Authorities accused driver Legrand Pratt, a career criminal they said stole the Corvette from a car lot during a test drive. [Video]

Addressing reporters this morning, Truong said questioning Pratt (below, left) was routine. He was asked to step out of the car and then reached for his wallet when asked to produce identification.

But then Pratt "got nervous." He reached for the ignition, the Corvette started rolling and Truong dived in. Officer David Bradley, Truong's partner, reached to pull Truong away, but only touched Truong's dangling radio cord as the Corvette sped away.

The officers version of what happens next sounds like it's taken from an action movie screenplay:

Truong's arm became pinned between the 240-pound driver and the steering wheel. Pratt jammed on the gas pedal. Reaching for anything, Truong found the steering wheel with his free hand, and both men struggled for control as the car soared down Beach Street.

Pratt tried to swerve into telephone poles and parked cars while Truong, most of his body exposed to the world whizzing by, tried desperately to keep the car in the middle of the road.

"I wasn't going to let go," he said. "I wasn't going to let him hit a vehicle on the left side, because I was going to be dead then, too."

Four blocks later, Truong isn't sure if he let go or if he was pushed out of the car. All he remembers is skidding across the pavement.

"The whole thing was crazy," he said. "The worst 30 seconds of my life."

Pratt continued for about 2 miles before a police cruiser immobilized the car, forcing him to lose control and crash into a telephone pole. He was later charged with attempted homicide on a law enforcement officer, aggravated fleeing to elude and driving without a valid driver's license.

He also has an outstanding warrant for his arrest in York County, S.C., on "possession of a vehicle and breach of trust over $5,000," police said. He was held without bail at the Orient Road Jail.

A police helicopter captured the unfolding scene in a video sent to the news media Monday. But what the released footage doesn’t show is a shaken-up Truong rising from the pavement, rejoining Officer Bradley in his cruiser, back in hot pursuit of the fleeing Corvette.

- Casey Cora, Times staff writer