A Collier County deputy who worried a swerving driver might be sick, exhausted, or impaired instead found himself in an 11-mile pursuit that topped 130 mph before stop sticks and a PIT maneuver finally brought the truck to a stop early Sunday. Oswaldo Perez-Ramirez, 24, was arrested after the chase through Collier County and now faces charges of high-speed fleeing and eluding, DUI, driving without a valid license, and resisting an officer without violence.
According to WINK News, Cpl. John F. Negron spotted a beige Toyota Tundra at about 2:20 a.m. at the 7/11 on 12125 Collier Boulevard after the truck drove over a curb while turning into the gas station. The sheriff's office says Negron saw the truck swerving in its lane and followed it out of concern the driver might be ill, tired, or impaired. When Negron attempted to stop the truck near Collier Boulevard and 13th Avenue Southwest, the driver did not stop, according to the sheriff's office.
Speeds Climbed Past 100 MPH Through Residential Corridors
The pursuit began near Collier Boulevard and Pine Ridge Road and continued north on Collier Boulevard before moving onto Immokalee Road and Randall Boulevard. Per deputies, the driver reached 105 mph on Collier Boulevard in a posted 45-mph zone, then hit 130 mph on Immokalee Road, also a 45-mph zone.
District Four deputies placed stop sticks on Immokalee Road in an effort to end the chase, but the first two attempts failed to stop the truck. Dep. Ebert eventually hit the truck's tires with stop sticks, according to the sheriff's office, and the deflated tires began slowing the vehicle down. The truck kept going anyway, continuing onto Randall Boulevard in the oncoming lane before Dep. Orcutt stopped it using a PIT maneuver near Randall Boulevard and Eighth Street Northeast.
Standoff, Language Barrier, and Conflicting Accounts of Who Was Driving
Even after the truck was disabled, the occupants ignored repeated orders to get out, the report states. Dep. Orcutt broke the driver-side window, and deputies removed both the front-seat and rear-seat passengers. Cpl. Solis came to the scene to translate because of a language barrier, per the sheriff's office.
What happened next got complicated. Jose Lopez told deputies he had been asleep and said a friend who had been driving had jumped into the back seat as the truck spun around, according to the arrest report. Perez-Ramirez denied driving the truck at all and claimed Lopez had driven the whole time, the report states. But Negron reviewed dash camera video that, according to his report, showed the driver wearing a white shirt — the same shirt Perez-Ramirez wore during the stop.
Implied Consent, Jail Booking, and a Red-Light Citation
Deputies read Perez-Ramirez implied consent at about 3:34 a.m., and he refused to provide a breath sample at the jail, according to the sheriff's office. He was booked into the Naples Jail Center at 4:08 a.m. Separately, the arrest report notes Perez-Ramirez received a citation for failing to stop at a steady red signal. Morelys Towing removed the truck from the scene, per the sheriff's office.
This is not the only high-speed pursuit to rattle Collier County roads in recent memory. A separate chase documented by gulfcoastnewsnow.com saw a driver top 95 mph on Immokalee Road before deputies again resorted to a PIT maneuver, while another pursuit reported by WINK News involved a stolen Ford truck going 111 mph on Alico Road, followed by a foot chase that ended when deputies sent in a K-9. A third case, as reported by Gulf Coast News (WBBH), described a car hitting 153 mph in a posted 45-mph zone on SR-82 before three men were arrested. The supplied accounts don't establish whether these incidents reflect any broader pattern, but they underscore how often Collier County deputies have turned to stop sticks and PIT maneuvers to end dangerous chases.
