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Thursday, March 28, 2024

Gainesville man in stolen vehicle nabbed after high-speed pursuit on I-75

Kevonte McDonald
Kevonte McDonald

A homeless Gainesville man was jailed recently after a high-speed pursuit on Interstate 75 that ended in a crash.

Ocala Police officers responded April 4 to the area of Maricamp Road after a license plate hit on 2015 silver Ford that had been reported stolen in Gainesville. An officer quickly located the sedan at the intersection of S. Pine Avenue and S.E. 17th Street and attempted to conduct a traffic stop a short time later, an Ocala Police report states.

After the 31-year-old Kevonte McDonald refused to stop, Ocala officers and Marion County sheriff’s deputies initiated a pursuit that eventually ended up in the northbound lanes of I-75. The pursuit ended a short time later when a sheriff’s deputy performed a PIT maneuver on the vehicle and McDonald crashed into a guardrail about half a mile north of Mile Marker 368, a police report states.

Kevonte McDonald crash photo 2
Kevonte McDonald, 31, of Gainesville, was arrested recently after a high-speed pursuit on Interstate 75 and charged with grand theft of a motor vehicle, fleeing/eluding a law enforcement officer with emergency lights and siren active, aggravated assault on a law enforcement officer and driving while license suspended or revoked.

Officers and deputies removed McDonald from the vehicle, placed him in handcuffs and sat him in the back of a patrol vehicle. Because of the crash, officers had EMS respond to the scene to evaluate McDonald for injuries. He was then transported to an Ocala hospital and after being medically cleared, he was read his rights and taken into custody.

McDonald told an officer that he had “just drove around aimlessly with no destination in mind.” He said he stopped for gas a couple of times and continued to drive until officers initially tried to pull him over. He said he decided to “run from the police” because he didn’t want to go to jail, the report says.

Kevonte McDonald crash photo 1
Kevonte McDonald, of Gainesville, was arrested recently during a high-speed pursuit on Interstate 75 after a Marion County sheriff’s deputy performed a PIT maneuver on the stolen vehicle he was driving, according to an Ocala Police report.

The officer spoke with an Ocala Police sergeant who said that McDonald had driven straight at him during the pursuit on S.W. 33rd Avenue when he had his emergency lights and siren activated. The sergeant said he was forced to drive completely off the roadway to avoid a head-on collision and he was “shocked and in fear for my life because of the intentional vehicle assault,” the report says.

McDonald, whose license was suspended because of a past driving under the influence conviction, was transported to the Marion County Jail and charged with grand theft of a motor vehicle, fleeing/eluding a law enforcement officer with emergency lights and siren active, aggravated assault on a law enforcement officer and driving while license suspended or revoked. He was being held on $30,000 bond and is due in court May 11 at 9 a.m., jail records show.