Suspects flee police, flood into hotel room on Longboat Key

The driver of a car full of passengers sped off when Longboat police pulled in behind early on a recent Sunday morning, but nobody has been arrested yet on a felony charge of attempting to elude.

According to a police report, an officer saw a white sedan with what appeared to be every seat occupied traveling south past him a little after 4 a.m. Sunday, March 1 while he was stationed at the intersection of Gulf of Mexico Drive and Broadway Street. When the officer pulled his patrol truck onto Gulf of Mexico Drive to follow the vehicle, it sped off, the report describes.

“While behind the vehicle, the vehicle rapidly accelerated a high rate of speed,” the report says. “I then attempted to stop the vehicle by activating my emergency equipment, lights and sirens and attempted to catch up to the vehicle. The vehicle continued to increase speed and it was apparent the vehicle was fleeing to elude law enforcement.”

Though fleeing law enforcement is a felony, Police Chief Russ Mager said it’s not something that would warrant a high-speed pursuit.

“The officer made an attempt to pull that vehicle over and it took off,” Mager said. “The car took off and he let it go. We don’t pursue unless it’s a violent felony. The officer said no for the safety of our citizens and the public.”

After the car sped off, the officer alerted Sarasota County that there was a vehicle that failed to comply and was eluding at a high rate of speed. He wrote in the police report that he believed he lost sight of the vehicle’s tail lights near the 4900 block of Gulf of Mexico Drive. He drove south and coincidentally pulled into Zota Beach Resort (on the 4700 block of GMD) to complete his report of the incident.

There, he saw a small, white, unoccupied sedan parked in front of the hotel. The report describes that the vehicle’s exhaust was crackling from heat and there was an odor coming from the brakes of the car. The officer also noted he smelled what he believed was the scent of burnt marijuana coming from the vehicle.

“I proceeded into the Zota Resort valet area and was advised by subjects departing the resort that three males and one female hastily exited the vehicle and entered into the front entrance of the resort,” the report said.

A license plate search showed the vehicle was registered to an auto rental and sales company in Tampa Bay. Officers who arrived as backup spoke with the security guard of the resort who located the room number of the guests to whom the vehicle was registered. The guard called the room and asked the guests to come move their vehicle.

A female suspect later came down to retrieve the vehicle, speaking to officers on scene and claiming she was the owner of the vehicle and was driving it. She said she did not see the police truck behind her but did say she saw a police cruiser on a separate traffic stop when entering the island. The police report said the suspect was “extremely uncooperative” and demanded the vehicle be released to her. Instead, officers impounded the vehicle because it was “used in the commission of a felony crime,” the registered owner was not able to be confirmed and the driver was not present with the vehicle, the report describes.

The seat of the vehicle was lowered and slid to the rear “as if a tall subject was operating the vehicle.” The female suspect was listed as 5-foot-5 in the report. Mager said the officers on scene did not make any arrests because they had no evidence the female suspect was operating the vehicle. A police department spokesperson said the marine patrol truck that originally pulled behind the vehicle did not have a dashcam installed.

“The people in the car, we couldn’t identify them,” Mager said. “The person that came out who identified themselves as the owner of the vehicle, the officers couldn’t do anything as far as levying any charges (against her).”

The vehicle was impounded, though, and a green leafy substance was recovered from the car.

The case is still ongoing, with the hotel’s surveillance footage possibly helping the case.

“The Zota Resort has a comprehensive surveillance system which will warrant the issuance of subpoenas for surveillance footage,” the report says. “Directly above where the vehicle parked, several surveillance cameras are located.”