PASCO COUNTY, Fla. — Deputies arrested an accused robber who slammed into a deputy’s cruiser and tried to run.
Authorities said everything unfolded Thursday. The Pasco County Sheriff said Justin Capell followed two people from a bank who had a bag of money, stealing it at a stop light. He then hit the victim's car as he tried to get away.
The sheriff said a deputy happened to be driving up at that exact moment when the yellow mustang hit the victim’s car. He said the deputy did not know a robbery had just occurred. The sheriff said deputies tried to stop the suspect but backed off because it was too dangerous. They clocked the suspect driving more than 100 mph.
“There’s evil in this society. It’s our job to stop that evil from doing things like this,” Sheriff Chris Nocco said.
Sheriff Nocco identified the suspect as Justin Capell. He said Capell has a violent history and has been in and out of their system 35 times in 10 years.
According to the sheriff, Capell lost control and slammed into his deputy on US 19 in Holiday. Body camera footage shows the deputy walking out of the cruiser after the crash.
“The instinct and training is ‘I’m not going to quit’ and so she was not going to quit,” Sheriff Nocco said.
Authorities said Capell told deputies he smoked a massive amount of cocaine and meth for the past 3 days and refused to be locked up again. The body camera video shows a deputy using a taser on Capell. He was arrested on a number of charges, including hit and run and resisting.
“When you look at this incident, but then you look at his record, this is clearly somebody that needs to be put in jail and prison,” the sheriff said.
The sheriff said the deputy who was hit is going to be okay. He is thankful no one was seriously injured.
