PORT ST. LUCIE – A man driving a reported stolen car from Pembroke Pines was arrested on Nov. 25 following a race-and-chase through the streets of Port St. Lucie, according to police reports.
At about 9:30 a.m., Port St. Lucie Police was notified that a 2016 Cadillac ATS, used in a strong-armed robbery in Pinebroke Pines on Nov. 23 was headed towards Port St. Lucie.
An officer spotted the 2016 Cadillac ATS traveling east on Southeast Walton Road at Southeast Lennard Road, according to police reports.
With officers en route for backup to conduct a traffic stop, the driver, later identified as Zion Jeremiah McGowan, 23, made a turn into Savannas Preserve State Park, according to police reports. As officers closed in, McGowan tried to escape in the car by accelerating and hitting a patrol car and gate to the trail, before heading west on Walton Road to the Savanna Club, west of the preserve off Lennard Road, where McGowan left the car at the entrance and fled on foot, according to police reports.
Officers were able to apprehend McGowan without incident in the backyard of a home on the 8000 block of Wedelia Court within the Savannah Club community.
McGowan was charged with three counts of aggravated assault on a law enforcement officer; two counts of property damage; one count each of fleeing and eluding a police officer, resisting an officer without violence, grand theft of a motor vehicle, possession of controlled substance; and operating a motor vehicle without a valid license. He is being held at the St. Lucie County Jail on a $180,000 bond.