Can a pair of teenagers find anything better to do more than four hours before sunrise on a Thursday morning besides commit multiple crimes? The Hillsborough County Sheriff’s Office’s (HCSO) reports that around 2:20 a.m. on November 14, a pair of 17-year-olds, Jesse Gegenheimer and Ismael Caballero, were about to get caught for vehicle burglary when they struck a deputy’s patrol vehicle and fled.
The deputy was responding to a report made at 2:24 a.m. regarding the original burglary. Possibly in response to seeing the patrol vehicle, Gegenheimer and Caballero fled the scene down the 3300 block of Lakeview Drive in Tampa, using the stolen car and hitting the deputy’s vehicle in the process.
A chase ensued, and the HCSO’s Aviation Section soon located the stolen vehicle and reported that the suspects had taken off on foot. The Tampa Police Department’s Aviation Section joined the search to aid ground units as the suspects proceeded to evade arrest.
A short video compiled from the responding officers’ body camera footage and the HCSO’s Aviation Section’s footage was included in the original post.
In the video, you can see the moment when the teens hit the patrol car and hear the unamused deputy say, “Yep. They just hit my vehicle”. An officer from the HCSO’s Aviation Section’s helicopter also commented that the teen who was driving the stolen car was “having trouble keeping control of the vehicle”.
From the helicopter’s vantage point, the teens can be seen pulling over on the side of the road, running, and splitting up. One teen, who had long, brown hair, decided to hide in what looked like a shed. He stuck his hands out of the door upon request and complied with all of the officers’ demands while repeating “Yes, sir”.
The other teen, who was wearing a black hoodie with a white design, continued to run. The officer pursuing him warned “K9 is going to get you!”. The teen replied, “I’m done” and was immediately tackled to the ground.
In a statement, Sheriff Chad Chronister said, “The actions of these suspects were reckless and incredibly dangerous. They put our deputies and the public’s safety at risk. Thanks to the teamwork of our law enforcement partners, these individuals are in custody.”
Article by Ema Tibbetts