A 16-year-old faces four charges after deputies said he fled in a stolen vehicle and was arrested near a CVS in St. Petersburg last Thursday. The charges are grand theft of a motor vehicle, fleeing to elude, resisting arrest without violence and driving without a valid license, according to the Pinellas County Sheriff's Office account reported by WFLA.
Deputies said they saw the vehicle on Ulmerton Road at about 6 p.m. Sept. 17 before it entered a shopping center near Park Boulevard and 49th Street. The vehicle moved through the parking area and stopped near the CVS, where a passenger got out, authorities said. Deputies blocked the lot’s exit, and the driver ran before a deputy used a Taser and arrested him, WFLA reported.
The teenager also told deputies the vehicle belonged to his grandmother, according to the sheriff’s account. The report identifies the allegation and arrest but does not resolve the case’s eventual court outcome.
A local policy aimed at fleeing drivers
The arrest comes amid a Pinellas County policy focused on taking vehicles used to flee from deputies. The sheriff’s office said its initiative began June 11, 2024, under the Florida Contraband Forfeiture Act. At the time, the agency said it had recorded 1,042 fleeing-and-eluding cases since January 2022 and that vehicles could be seized when drivers fled after being directed to stop. The policy is separate from the charges and unresolved outcome in this case, according to the sheriff’s office.
That measure addresses the vehicle used in a fleeing incident, while the current case concerns the teenager’s alleged conduct and the four criminal counts filed after the arrest. The available account does not indicate whether the vehicle in this incident was seized under the county initiative.
Separate St. Petersburg-area cases show a recurring fact pattern, not a trend
A separate June 10, 2026, case involved two 16-year-olds from St. Petersburg who were arrested after a stolen Toyota Highlander chase through Hillsborough County reached speeds of up to 120 mph, WFLA reported, citing the Florida Highway Patrol. That incident involved two youths, a different county and a high-speed interstate pursuit, so it is a comparison rather than evidence that the cases are connected.
In an older, separate St. Petersburg case reported April 26, 2018, police arrested 19-year-old Rashad Webb after authorities said he fled in another stolen car, according to WFLA. The earlier arrest and the 2026 incidents illustrate similar allegations involving stolen vehicles and flight from police, but they do not establish a pattern, common cause or later outcome for the people involved.
For the current case, the central unresolved questions are how prosecutors will handle the charges in the juvenile justice system and what happens next in court. The arrest itself remains an allegation, not a finding of guilt.
