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Pinellas deputies, St. Pete Police officer injured in early morning crash

Posted at 10:53 AM, Oct 15, 2017
and last updated 2017-10-16 00:41:25-04

A pair of Pinellas County Sheriff’s deputies, a St. Petersburg Police officer and an 18-year-old man were injured early Sunday in a three-vehicle crash in St. Petersburg.

The incident occurred just before 1 am at the intersection of Martin Luther King Jr. St. South and 26th Ave. South.

According to a Pinellas County Sheriff’s Office report Deputy Guy Habercom and Deputy Justin Gould with the department’s Violent Crimes Task Force were conducting surveillance in the area, looking for a vehicle that had recently fled from them.

With Deputy Habercom at the wheel of a 2018 Toyota Camry and Deputy Gould in the passenger seat, the vehicle was traveling south on MLK in the median lane and had just passed through the 26th Ave. South intersection under a green light when Officer Scott Cameron of the St. Petersburg Police Department approached in a Crown Victoria.

As Cameron attempted to turn south onto MLK his right front tire struck a curb, causing him to lose control of the vehicle. Investigators say the Crown Victoria bounced off the west curb onto MLK where it struck the deputies’ Camry.

The impact pushed the Camry into the northbound median lane of MLK where it was hit by a 2004 Taurus driven by 18-year-old Dallas Speights of St. Petersburg. Speights and SPPD Officer Cameron were both transported by ambulance to Bayfront Medical Center with non, life-threatening injuries.

Deputy Halbercom, 29, and Deputy Gould, 40, also suffered non, life-threatening injuries and were transported to Bayfront Medical Center. The report states that neither law enforcement vehicle was operating in emergency mode at the time of the incident.

The investigation continues.