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July 13, 2006
Cell phone might lead to suspect who hit officer
By LYDA LONGA
Staff Writer
DAYTONA BEACH -- Investigators are hoping a cell phone left behind in a banged up rental car could lead them to the suspect who injured a police officer at a gas station after smashing into her car.
Before roaring away from the Shell station at Mason and Ridgewood avenues Tuesday night, the suspect aimed his vehicle at injured officer Betsy Cassidy's partner and then sped off after the second officer shot at him five times, a report shows.
"I'm not a proponent of shooting at cars," said Police Chief Mike Chitwood. "But in this case they were using that car as a weapon to get at Betsy."
The officer who shot at the suspects, 26-year-old Scott Goss, has been placed on administrative leave because he discharged his weapon, Chitwood said. The procedure is standard whenever an officer fires his gun. According to Chitwood it's the first time Goss, with the department five years, fired his gun while on duty.
Cassidy, a 10-year veteran of the Daytona Beach police, is mending an injured shoulder and resting at her home after getting struck by the suspects' rented Pontiac. She is expected to return to work within the next few days, said Sgt. Al Tolley.
Wednesday afternoon investigators scoured the city in search of the two men. They learned that the car the suspects were using was rented at an Enterprise Rent-a-Car by a woman named Jamie Caudill, 38, of Daytona Beach.
Caudill could not be reached for comment Wednesday.
Chitwood said detectives interviewed Caudill but she said she leased the vehicle for a man whom she claimed had helped paint her house. Chitwood said the woman referred to the suspect only as "Mike."
The chief also said he believes Caudill may have rented the car for the suspects in exchange for drugs.
"That's my belief," Chitwood said.
According to the report, Cassidy and Goss stopped at the Shell station after spotting the black Pontiac parked on the north side of the business at 10 p.m. Tuesday. The pair saw the same car on Monday night, the driver acting suspiciously. When the officers attempted to stop the driver to question him, he peeled away at a high rate of speed, police said.
Cassidy and Goss are members of the Robbery Suppression Team, a task force created to help find the thieves responsible for a string of robberies at local convenience stores and fast food eateries in Daytona Beach and Holly Hill in the last month. Chitwood said the suspect's car was lurking outside a business Monday night and that's why the officers wanted to talk to the driver.
But when Cassidy rolled her patrol car close to the Pontiac at the gas station, the suspect apparently decided he was not going to talk, Chitwood said.
According to the report, he backed up the rental car into Cassidy's cruiser. Cassidy was attempting to get out of her car when the impact knocked her off balance and she was hit in the shoulder. Then the suspect aimed his vehicle toward the west side of the gas station and sped toward Goss, who had stepped out of his patrol cruiser.
The report shows that Goss then shot five rounds at the front of the Pontiac as it raced through the gas station. The Pontiac smashed into a concrete pole before continuing onto Mason.
Two other officers pursued the vehicle west on Mason and onto the 1000 block of Kennedy Road, where it crashed into a tree. The driver and his passenger bolted from the Pontiac and police followed a blood trail left behind by the suspect who was likely shot, Chitwood said.
Tolley said the suspects were probably running because they knew they "had obtained the rental car under suspicious circumstances."
"So far no one who was shot on Tuesday night has been to any of the hospitals in the area," Chitwood said.
Anyone with information about the suspects is asked to call Daytona Beach police at (386) 671-5100, , or Crime Stoppers at (888) 277-TIPS (8477).
lyda.longa @news-jrnl.com
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© 2006 News-Journal Corporation. ® www.news-journalonline.com. Do not republish or distribute without permission.
July 13, 2006
Cell phone might lead to suspect who hit officer
By LYDA LONGA
Staff Writer
DAYTONA BEACH -- Investigators are hoping a cell phone left behind in a banged up rental car could lead them to the suspect who injured a police officer at a gas station after smashing into her car.
Before roaring away from the Shell station at Mason and Ridgewood avenues Tuesday night, the suspect aimed his vehicle at injured officer Betsy Cassidy's partner and then sped off after the second officer shot at him five times, a report shows.
"I'm not a proponent of shooting at cars," said Police Chief Mike Chitwood. "But in this case they were using that car as a weapon to get at Betsy."
The officer who shot at the suspects, 26-year-old Scott Goss, has been placed on administrative leave because he discharged his weapon, Chitwood said. The procedure is standard whenever an officer fires his gun. According to Chitwood it's the first time Goss, with the department five years, fired his gun while on duty.
Cassidy, a 10-year veteran of the Daytona Beach police, is mending an injured shoulder and resting at her home after getting struck by the suspects' rented Pontiac. She is expected to return to work within the next few days, said Sgt. Al Tolley.
Wednesday afternoon investigators scoured the city in search of the two men. They learned that the car the suspects were using was rented at an Enterprise Rent-a-Car by a woman named Jamie Caudill, 38, of Daytona Beach.
Caudill could not be reached for comment Wednesday.
Chitwood said detectives interviewed Caudill but she said she leased the vehicle for a man whom she claimed had helped paint her house. Chitwood said the woman referred to the suspect only as "Mike."
The chief also said he believes Caudill may have rented the car for the suspects in exchange for drugs.
"That's my belief," Chitwood said.
According to the report, Cassidy and Goss stopped at the Shell station after spotting the black Pontiac parked on the north side of the business at 10 p.m. Tuesday. The pair saw the same car on Monday night, the driver acting suspiciously. When the officers attempted to stop the driver to question him, he peeled away at a high rate of speed, police said.
Cassidy and Goss are members of the Robbery Suppression Team, a task force created to help find the thieves responsible for a string of robberies at local convenience stores and fast food eateries in Daytona Beach and Holly Hill in the last month. Chitwood said the suspect's car was lurking outside a business Monday night and that's why the officers wanted to talk to the driver.
But when Cassidy rolled her patrol car close to the Pontiac at the gas station, the suspect apparently decided he was not going to talk, Chitwood said.
According to the report, he backed up the rental car into Cassidy's cruiser. Cassidy was attempting to get out of her car when the impact knocked her off balance and she was hit in the shoulder. Then the suspect aimed his vehicle toward the west side of the gas station and sped toward Goss, who had stepped out of his patrol cruiser.
The report shows that Goss then shot five rounds at the front of the Pontiac as it raced through the gas station. The Pontiac smashed into a concrete pole before continuing onto Mason.
Two other officers pursued the vehicle west on Mason and onto the 1000 block of Kennedy Road, where it crashed into a tree. The driver and his passenger bolted from the Pontiac and police followed a blood trail left behind by the suspect who was likely shot, Chitwood said.
Tolley said the suspects were probably running because they knew they "had obtained the rental car under suspicious circumstances."
"So far no one who was shot on Tuesday night has been to any of the hospitals in the area," Chitwood said.
Anyone with information about the suspects is asked to call Daytona Beach police at (386) 671-5100, , or Crime Stoppers at (888) 277-TIPS (8477).
lyda.longa @news-jrnl.com
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
© 2006 News-Journal Corporation. ® www.news-journalonline.com. Do not republish or distribute without permission.
