LAND O' LAKES, Fla. - Pasco County sheriff’s deputies arrested a man stuck in swamp mud who is accused of battering a Hernando County deputy.
Deputies found Paul Daniel Smith around 6:10 p.m. Tuesday “hiding almost entirely submerged in mud,” according to a release from the Pasco County Sheriff’s Office.
Smith, 34, is charged with aggravated assault on a law enforcement officer, eluding deputies and violation of probation.
The Hernando County Sheriff’s Office received a be-on-the-lookout alert for Smith, who was also accused of resisting arrest and driving away with one handcuffed wrist in a blue Ford F-150. A deputy spotted the truck around 6:10 p.m. Tuesday traveling southbound on US 41 in Land O’ Lakes, Florida. The truck turned into the Lake Thomas area where Smith struck a pole and a mailbox.
A passenger in the vehicle, Tara Berger, jumped out of the truck at one point. Deputies arrested Berger shortly after. Berger, 31, is charged with lying to a law enforcement officer during a felony investigation.
The sheriff’s office said Smith then made a turn in the Lake Thomas subdivision and drove directly at Pasco County deputies, just missing them. Smith then ran from the truck into the swamp area before deputies and a K-9 found him.
The Hernando County Sheriff’s Office is pursuing warrants for multiple felony charges against Smith in its jurisdiction too.
Deputies took Smith to Spring Hill Hospital for medical clearance.
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