HCSO Air Unit Assists in Three Separate Incidents Over Holiday Weekend
The HCSO Air Unit had a busy and productive holiday weekend in helping resolve three separate incidents.
• The first incident occurred at 10:35 a.m. on Friday, March 25, when a deputy on patrol received an alert via a license plate reader equipped in his vehicle.
The alert advised the 2005 GMC Sierra truck traveling west on Spring Hill Drive was recently reported stolen to the Pinellas Park Police Department.
The deputy attempted to initiate a traffic stop; however, the driver failed to stop. A short pursuit followed, which was discontinued by the deputy when the suspect, later identified as Christopher Bert Caldwell, W/M DOB 2/17/1989, began to accelerate in excess of the posted speed limit and drive erratically.
The HCSO Air Unit, which was already in the air conducting a maintenance flight, continued the pursuit along Mariner Boulevard and then Shady Hills Road into Pasco County.
The Air Unit followed the suspect’s vehicle to Garson Loop in Shady Hills where the occupants abandoned the vehicle, fleeing the area on foot. The Air Unit continued to provide an aerial perimeter until Pasco County deputies arrived on scene to continue the search.
The Air Unit then left and returned to the hanger to refuel, only to be recalled by the Pasco Sheriff’s Office to again assist with tracking the suspects, who were spotted running through yards in the Shady Hills area.
While assisting in the search, a Pasco Sheriff’s Office K-9 team located the suspects hiding in a shed.
Caldwell and Amber Fina, W/F DOB 8/28/1989, were taken into custody without incident.
Caldwell was charged with Fleeing and Attempting to Elude a Police Officer and Knowingly Driving with a Suspended License.
Fina was arrested in connection with an active Violation of Probation warrant out of Hernando County.
• In the second incident, a man living on Snowy Owl Road in Brooksville reported a female, who appeared to be a juvenile, knocked on his door at 10:30 p.m. Friday asking to use the phone.
The man noted the girl appeared to have dried blood covering her clothing.
The girl left the man’s home prior to a deputy’s arrival. Through the deputy’s investigation and canvass of the area, he was able to determine the girl’s identity.
The father stated he was involved in a verbal argument with his daughter at which time he took his daughter’s cell phone away as punishment.
Not long after the argument, the girl snuck out of her residence.
The Air Unit responded and quickly located the girl hiding in a nearby retention pond.
A deputy then made contact with the girl. She told the deputy she made superficial cuts to her left wrist prior to sneaking out of her home.
She said she was upset with her father and attempted to harm herself by consuming 12 Advil pills.
The girl was transported to Oak Hill Hospital for treatment and later placed under a Baker Act status for further evaluation.
• In the third incident, the Air Unit was on proactive patrol at 9 p.m. Sunday in Spring Hill when they spotted a man, later identified as Mark Allen Eubanks, W/M DOB 11/6/1989, behind the Winn-Dixie, located at 2240 Commercial Way.
Upon being spotted, Eubanks began to run and attempt to hide on several occasions.
The Air Unit led deputies to the backyard of a residence at 5512 Piedmont Drive, Spring Hill.
As a deputy attempted to arrest Eubanks, he refused to show his hands by laying on them.
Initially, Eubanks refused to tell deputies what he was doing behind Winn-Dixie or why he ran from authorities.
Eubanks then stated he was meeting some people there to trade his dead girlfriend for his nephew, who he said they were going to kill.
Eubanks was charged with Loitering/Prowling, Resisting an Officer Without Violence and Trespassing.
