Tampa Police Captain Hit During Traffic Stop

Jan. 15, 2014
Capt. Steve Hartnett narrowly avoided being run over by a vehicle driven by a suspected thief Wednesday.

TAMPA, Fla. -- A confrontation between a suspected thief and a Tampa police captain ended with both in the hospital and the suspect possibly facing attempted murder charges.

Capt. Steve Hartnett, a 25-year veteran of the force. was at Tampa General Hospital on Wednesday, receiving treatment for injuries to his left knee and his lower back after he narrowly avoided being run over by a vehicle driven by the suspect, identified as Jamie Parchmon, 29, who was shot once in the shoulder by another officer during the incident.

Tampa police Chief Jane Castor said Hartnett and other officers tried to stop a rented Dodge Charger on 30th Street just south of Hillsborough Avenue after receiving an anonymous tip about the individual in the car and his suspected involvement with stolen property and firearms.

"The officers followed the vehicle and tried to stop it for a traffic infraction," she said. "Because there may have been firearms involved, they tried to block him in and that's when all hell broke loose."

Parchmon, she said, hit the gas and tried to force his way through and Hartnett happened to be in the way.

"If (Hartnett) hadn't pushed himself out of the way," the chief said, "he would have been run over by that car."

That's when another officer fired one shot at the Charger, hitting Parchmon in the shoulder.

Parchmon sped away from the scene after he was shot but bailed out of his car a short distance away. Police took him into custody near the corner of Chelsea Street and 39th Street. His condition was unknown, but Castor said the shoulder wound was not life-threatening.

"He is no stranger to Tampa police or law enforcement," Castor said of Parchmon, a convicted drug dealer and thief who has "outlaw" tattooed on his neck. He has an arrest record in Hillsborough County dating back to 2002, when he was 18.

Parchmon's most recent arrest was in 2010, when he violated his probation on cocaine possession and grand theft charges. He was sentenced to 44 months in prison and was released in December 2012, Florida Department of Corrections records show.

The name of the officer who shot Parchmon was not immediately released. He will be placed on administrative duty pending the outcome of the investigation, Castor said, which is standard procedure in such matters.

Hartnett was alert and talking, she said. He was lucky.

"Steve leads by example," Castor said. "He is out on the streets. He puts himself in harm's way in getting criminals off the street."

Copyright 2014 - Tampa Tribune, Fla.

McClatchy-Tribune News Service

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