An Ocala man who works at Jenkins Collision Center was arrested last week after he fled from a Marion County sheriff’s sergeant in a burning SUV and eventually crashed on SE U.S. Hwy. 441.
The incident started this past Wednesday afternoon when a sheriff’s sergeant spotted a black Chevy Tahoe with heavy front-end damage at the intersection of SE Abshier Boulevard and County Road 484 in Belleview. The deputy, who saw flames coming from the front driver’s wheel area, believed a vehicle crash had just occurred, so he activated his emergency lights to cross the intersection and help the occupants of the SUV, a sheriff’s report states.
But the SUV, driven by 40-year-old Luis Manuel Arguello, quickly sped away. So the sheriff’s sergeant initiated a pursuit with lights and siren in an attempt to stop the vehicle. The sergeant eventually got close enough to get the SUV’s license tag number and then terminated the pursuit because of the high volume of traffic in the area, the report says.
The SUV continued north on Abshier Boulevard “in a reckless manner with the front driver wheel folded under the vehicle and on fire,” passing traffic using the center median and side grass areas, the report says, adding that a call came in for a hit-and-run involving the SUV as it sped away from the sergeant’s patrol vehicle.
A short time later, the sergeant came upon the SUV, which had crashed in the 9100 block of U.S. Hwy. 441, about a mile where he first lost sight of the vehicle. Arguello was pinned in the driver’s seat and a passenger had fled the scene but quickly returned to area. The passenger told the deputy that he had just met Arguello the night before and allowed him to drive the SUV because “he was too intoxicated” to drive it himself, the report says.
Arguello was removed from the SUV by crews from Marion County Fire Rescue and transported to Ocala Regional Medical Center. A computer check of his driving record showed numerous license suspensions, including a 10-year suspension for driving under the influence on Jan. 10, 2011, the report says.
Arguello refused to speak with the sheriff’s sergeant at the hospital, where he initially was listed in stable condition. He was released later in the day and was then arrested and transported to the Marion County jail, where he was charged with driving while license suspended for DUI (second offense) and fleeing or eluding an officer with lights and siren activated.
Arguello, who has been held in the Marion County Jail six times since May 1999, was released Wednesday afternoon on $15,000 bond. His court date hadn’t yet been set.