UPDATED: Vehicle pursuit ends with shots fired in diner parking lot

[Photo courtesy Ocala Police Department]

UPDATED REPORT:

A 61-year-old Belleview woman was arrested Sunday, Sept. 22, after she led officers on a vehicle chase in northeast Ocala that involved nearly hitting a pedestrian and ended in the parking lot of a Silver Springs diner where police fired multiple shots at her SUV before it was pinned in by multiple law enforcement vehicles.

The Ocala Police Department reports that Linda Parker Vaughn was arrested at 8:32 a.m. after her vehicle was finally stopped at Darrell’s Diner at 5125 E. Silver Springs Blvd. following a pursuit that began at a church school in the 1800 block of Northeast 14th Street, according to the arrest affidavit.

OPD training officer Isaac Mercer and trainee Jeffery Vanhoose responded to a report of a “suspicious person” at the church school, driving a red Ford SUV. They found Vaughn, who got into the SUV and accelerated and swerved towards an occupied pickup truck. The SUV failed to stop as it was entering Northeast 19th Avenue and Vaughn ran a red light as she entered Northeast 14th Street.

Vaughn drove recklessly and swerved across lanes approaching the intersection of Northeast 14th Street and Northeast 25th Avenue, ran the red light, and “appeared to intentionally swerve into the westbound lanes” and “narrowly” missed a pedestrian, according to the arrest affidavit.

Mercer activated his red and blue lights thinking the driver might be a DUI and followed until Vaughn, who was driving at a “high rate of speed,” turned into the diner, where she first parked in a handicapped parking space.

The officers parked behind her SUV and approached the driver and passenger sides. Vaughn reversed the car and stuck the patrol car, then pulled forward and again backed up, striking the patrol car again and causing Van Hoose to move away.

The arrest affidavit stated that Vaughn again drove forward, turning toward Van Hoose and making him move to avoid being struck.

Officers began to fire their weapons at Vaughn at this point, the arrest affidavit states.

Vaughn then drove to the rear of the diner, where she struck foliage and several fences and then reportedly turned around and drove toward Mercer, who was near a parked vehicle and who had to run to avoid being hit.

Vaughn’s SUV struck another vehicle and briefly stopped, but then “ducked down” and continued to hold down the accelerator while additional members of law enforcement moved toward the SUV to try to remove Vaughn as she continued to try to maneuver the vehicle. Her SUV was then “pinned” by a patrol car, the arrest affidavit stated.

Vaughn “forcibly” resisted being removed from the SUV by officers. After she was removed, she was arrested and medically cleared at a local hospital, the arrest affidavit stated.

After she was informed of her rights, Vaughn told an investigator she had snorted an “unknown narcotic” around midnight and took “twice the amount” of her prescribed medication. Vaughn told the investigator she went to the church location to “meet a friend.” She said the officers contacted her there but claimed they were “evil and stated they would kill her for unknown reasons.”

The arrest affidavit states “no such statements” were captured by body cam video.

Vaughn was charged with two counts of aggravated assault with a deadly weapon on law enforcement and one count each of aggravated assault with a deadly weapon, flee and elude and resisting with violence. She is currently being held in the Marion County Jail.

Consistent with department policy, the officers involved have been placed on administrative leave. The incident remains under investigation.

ORIGINAL REPORT:

Two Ocala Police officers fired shots, but no one was struck, after a miles-long vehicle pursuit ended in the parking lot of a Silver Springs diner Sunday morning, according to the OPD.

According to preliminary information from OPD Public Information Officer Jeffrey Walczak, a vehicle that was being pursued from the 1800 block of Northeast 14th Street traveled to the parking lot of a diner in the 5100 block of East Silver Springs Boulevard where “the actions of the driver and vehicle prompted two of our officers to use force with their service weapons, however, the driver was not struck.”

The fleeing driver was not identified. The driver was transported to a hospital for treatment of minor injuries.

The reason for the pursuit was not released and the incident remains under investigation.