A Kissimmee man with an outstanding warrant thought he could outrun the Osceola County Sheriff’s Office through busy public streets. He was wrong on nearly every count. The multi-mile pursuit on May 26 put countless innocent drivers and pedestrians at risk before a Florida Highway Patrol trooper stepped in with a precision driving maneuver that brought the whole charade to a screeching halt.
What happened next pushed the incident from a garden-variety pursuit into something considerably more disturbing.
Michael Nathaniel Deregla led deputies on what the Osceola County Sheriff’s Office described as a “dangerous multi-mile” vehicle pursuit through Kissimmee before apparently deciding that four wheels were no longer working in his favor. Rather than surrendering on the spot, he bailed from the vehicle and made a run for it on foot. That decision alone was not particularly original. What followed, however, raised the stakes considerably…