THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Thursday, May 30, 1996 TAG: 9605300417
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B3 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY LARRY W. BROWN, STAFF WRITER
LENGTH: 59 lines
A Norfolk man accused of killing a sheriff's deputy by running him down with a stolen truck in Orlando, Fla., remained in critical condition lated Wednesday after being shot twice, authorities said.
Jason Tucker, 18, of the 8800 block of London St. in Norfolk, was shot in the right shoulder and left elbow by a deputy while fleeing from officers on Interstate 4 in Orange County.
He's accused of running down Deputy John J. Creegan, 37, who was attempting to set up ``stop sticks'' to slow down the stolen truck Tucker was driving.
Creegan had been with the sheriff's department for less than a year, said Deputy Carlos Espinosa, a department spokesman. He was married with three boys, ages 10, 12 and 14.
At 12:20 a.m. a deputy spotted the truck with Virginia tags that was driving slowly through South Orange Blossom Trail, a part of town known for heavy drug and prostitution activity, Espinosa said. When the deputy approached the truck, Tucker sped off.
Deputies ran a check on the truck's license tags but did not pursue the suspect, Espinosa said.
The check showed the truck was stolen Sunday from the 1500 block of Kingston Ave. in Norfolk.
Just then, another deputy spotted the truck and signaled for Tucker to pull over. The driver instead raced through several stop signs before barreling onto Interstate 4, where Creegan was trying to set up the stop sticks - devices that are placed across the road on the suspect's expected path. The sticks contain objects to puncture tires.
Speeds were reaching 90 to 100 miles an hour when the truck hit Creegan.
``He was outside his car by his driver's door . . . and the suspect ran over him,'' Espinosa said.
Creegan was taken to a hospital, where he was pronounced dead.
Tucker kept driving.
Several miles later, the pursuit went into nearby Seminole County, where deputies drove close enough to the truck to fire shots. Tucker was hit twice. He was taken to Orlando Regional Medical Center.
Joe Brown, a spokesman for the medical center, said it's too early to tell Tucker's prognosis. If he survives, but he could be a quadriplegic.
When Tucker was hit in the right shoulder, the bullet damaged his cervical spine.
``There's a quadriplegic effect of that,'' Brown said.
Espinosa said Creegan's was the first death in the line of the duty the department has had since a deputy was killed by a drunken driver in 1990. But the agency had recently been coping with the death of another deputy who took his life a month ago.
Creegan was a former police officer with the Casselberry Police Department in central Florida. He also was master chief in the Navy for about 18 years.
``He was a very good deputy . . . very well liked and appreciated in the community and the agency,'' Espinosa said.
The sheriff's department is investigating the case with the Florida Highway Patrol and the state's attorney office, Espinosa said. Manslaughter or possible murder charges are pending against Tucker.
Tucker is ``going to be in his own self-prison the rest of his life,'' Espinosa said. by CNB