TAMPA, Fla. — Florida Highway Patrol said a man was arrested in Hillsborough County for fleeing from a trooper during a high-speed chase with a five-year-old child in the vehicle.
On Monday around 9:56 p.m., an FHP trooper was traveling south on SR-589 near mile marker 7 when he saw a black SUV driving fast and changing lanes.
FHP said the trooper pursued the vehicle and attempted to conduct a traffic stop, but the driver of the SUV, Raeshad Jamal Hopkins, began to flee in an attempt to elude.
According to FHP, the trooper pursued Hopkins through various streets and used different maneuvers to attempt to stop the SUV, but none were successful.
The trooper attempted a PIT (precision immobilization technique), but Hopkins hit his brakes and caused the rear left of the SUV to hit the front of the patrol car.
After Hopkins went back onto SR-589 and headed west on Independence Parkway, he failed to make a sharp left turn, and the front of the SUV struck the concrete wall on the right shoulder. Hopkins came to a stop, and he was taken out of the vehicle.
When FHP got into the vehicle, they found two passengers in the SUV: a 30-year-old St. Petersburg woman in the front and a five-year-old child in the back.
According to FHP, the female passenger was the registered owner of the SUV and said she asked Hopkins multiple times to stop the vehicle to let her out, but Hopkins refused and imprisoned her.
Officials said Hopkins had also had a large quantity of cash on him and multiple cell phones in the SUV.
Hopkins faces multiple charges, including child neglect, kidnapping to commit a felony, reckless driving, fleeing to elude high speed and driving with a license suspended.
