{"id":164034,"date":"2026-02-21T19:11:12","date_gmt":"2026-02-21T19:11:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/164034\/"},"modified":"2026-02-21T19:11:12","modified_gmt":"2026-02-21T19:11:12","slug":"st-pete-man-accused-of-hitting-trooper-with-stolen-vehicle-during-chase-through-hillsborough-county-fhp","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/164034\/","title":{"rendered":"St. Pete man accused of hitting trooper with stolen vehicle during chase through Hillsborough County: FHP"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\" article <\/p>\n

Courtesy: Florida Highway Patrol <\/p>\n

BRANDON, Fla. – A St. Pete<\/a> man is facing several charges and is accused of fleeing in a stolen vehicle, hitting a trooper and patrol car before leading troopers on a late-night pursuit through eastern Hillsborough County<\/a>, according to the Florida <\/a>Highway Patrol.<\/p>\n

The backstory:<\/p>\n

FHP says the incident began shortly after 11 p.m. on Friday when a trooper assisted the Hillsborough County Sheriff’s Office with a stolen vehicle that had fled when a deputy tried to make a traffic stop near U.S. 92 and Tanner Road in Tampa<\/a>.<\/p>\n

READ: Venice man accused of chloroforming, killing missing woman told nurse he killed 4: Affidavit<\/a><\/p>\n

Troopers say aviation units tracked the orange Jeep to the area of Jerry Smith Road and Blankenship Road near Turkey Creek.<\/p>\n

Shortly before 11:30 p.m., a trooper spotted the vehicle traveling eastbound on Blankenship Road and tried to make a traffic stop.<\/p>\n

\"\" <\/p>\n

Courtesy: Florida Highway Patrol <\/p>\n

The driver turned into a private driveway at a large farm, drove through fields and into a chain-link fence, according to the FHP report.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Troopers say the driver, later identified as Shawn Creager, 51, refused to get out of the Jeep.<\/p>\n

Dig deeper:<\/p>\n

Investigators say when the trooper opened the driver\u2019s door and tried to get Creager out, he resisted. The trooper deployed a Taser on Creager, but it only connected partially.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Creager then put the Jeep in reverse, allegedly hitting the trooper and his patrol vehicle, before driving through a fence and continuing the chase.<\/p>\n

The pursuit continued into Brandon before ending near Lumsden Road and Durant Road, where troopers say Creager drove over a median. Troopers took Creager into custody.<\/p>\n

\"\" <\/p>\n

Courtesy: Florida Highway Patrol <\/p>\n

According to the FHP arrest report, Creager later told troopers he fled because he was high on cocaine and “freaking out.” A search of the Jeep uncovered drug paraphernalia, including a crack pipe.<\/p>\n

After agreeing to perform field sobriety tests at the Hillsborough County Jail, troopers said Creager showed multiple signs of impairment during the walk-and-turn and one-leg stand tests. He later refused to submit a urine test, leading to an additional charge.<\/p>\n

Troopers spoke with the vehicle\u2019s registered owner, who said she did not give Creager permission to use the Jeep and wanted to press charges. HCSO is handling the stolen vehicle and paraphernalia charges.<\/p>\n

Additionally, Creager was booked into the Hillsborough County Jail on the following charges:<\/p>\n

Fleeing to elude at a high speedDUIAggravated battery on a law enforcement officer with a deadly weaponResisting an officer with violenceCriminal mischief, $1,000 or moreRefusal to submit to testingDriving with a canceled, suspended or revoked licenseTrespassing on commercial agricultural property <\/p>\n

The Source: Information for this story was provided by the Florida Highway Patrol.<\/p>\n

Hillsborough County<\/a>Crime and Public Safety<\/a> <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"article Courtesy: Florida Highway Patrol BRANDON, Fla. – A St. Pete man is facing several charges and is…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":164035,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[13],"tags":[630,47,629,115,202,204,203,199,201,200,628],"class_list":{"0":"post-164034","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-st-petersburg","8":"tag-crime-publicsafety","9":"tag-fl","10":"tag-hillsborough","11":"tag-news","12":"tag-st-pete","13":"tag-st-pete-headlines","14":"tag-st-pete-news","15":"tag-st-petersburg","16":"tag-st-petersburg-headlines","17":"tag-st-petersburg-news","18":"tag-us"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/164034","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=164034"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/164034\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/164035"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=164034"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=164034"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=164034"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}