Police: Hour-long chase ends in arrest, crash

CLEARWATER -- An hour-long chase ended with an arrest this morning after police deployed two sets of tire-piercing stop sticks that sent the fleeing rental car into a traffic control box and its driver to the hospital.

Authorities said the chase began just after 11:45 p.m., when officers responded to a "shots fired" call in the area of Carroll Street and spotted the driver, later identified as Damien Howard, 29 (left).

Police started a traffic stop, but said Howard drove away, nearly running over one officer's foot and striking a police cruiser head-on. With police giving chase and a sheriff's office helicopter watching from the sky, Howard first drove on Douglas Street into Dunedin then turned back into Clearwater, where authorities placed the "stop sticks" on Belcher Road.

Police said Howard drove over them and continued on Belcher near Bryan Dairy Road before running over a second pair of "stop sticks" at Belcher and Gulf-to-Bay Boulevard. This time, police said, Howard lost control and smashed into a traffic control device at the corner of Belcher and NE Coachman Road, knocking out power to the intersection's stop lights. Traffic is being directed at the intersection as efforts continue to repair the damaged metal box that houses the traffic control equipment, police said.

Police said they recovered a gun from inside the overturned vehicle, reportedly a rented, black SUV. Howard was taken to a local hospital and treated for what police called minor injuries.

Howard, of 2159 Nursery Road, was charged with two counts of aggravated assault by motor vehicle on a law enforcement officer, aggravated fleeing and eluding, carrying a concealed firearm, being a felon in possession of firearm, armed trafficking of cocaine, marijuana possession, driving with a suspended license and reckless driving.

-- Casey Cora, Times staff writer