PASCO COUNTY, Fla. — New video and details have been released about a chase in Pasco County that ended with one man dead and another in the hospital. Pasco County Sheriff Chris Nocco said a call initially came in from a Circle K clerk about a man holding a woman in a headlock on the evening of October 13.
“They get a call because there is a woman who is in a headlock and asked the clerk ‘help me.’ And next thing you know deputies are arriving on scene and seeing that vehicle taking off,” Nocco said.
On an episode of Live PD that broadcast the crash, a deputy said: “We had a caller call in, say they saw a woman get dragged by her neck into a vehicle.”
Nocco said the deputies arrived on scene as the suspect car sped off and the deputies followed. A pursuit began on State Rod 54. Nocco said deputies pursued Michael Blomberg for a potential kidnapping at the time. Blomberg then crashed head-on into another vehicle while driving the wrong way on State Road 54.
In dash cam video, you can see deputies pull Blomberg out of the car and search for the woman inside.
Across the street, bystander Kirby Sober regained consciousness and pulled himself out of his inflamed truck. Innocent to this all, his wife told ABC Action News that he is fighting second-degree burns in the hospital.
Blomberg died from his injuries. Pasco Sheriff Chris Nocco said Blomberg had a history of arrests involving the woman and that his deputies were in the right to pursue given the concerned call they received.
“When they were pursuing, they were pursuing thinking she was in the vehicle,” Sheriff Nocco said.
“The real world we get one chance and if our citizens get to see what we do in that one chance, to see if we are trying to do our best, that’s good,” Sheriff Nocco said in reference to the Live PD video.
