Multi-agency pursuit ends with one in custody

TARPON SPRINGS (FOX 13) - A pursuit involving multiple multiple Bay Area law enforcement agencies ended in Hillsborough County with an arrest. 

The Pasco County Sheriff's Office ultimately arrested 25-year-old John Byrne, who deputies say is a known felon.

He was first Tarpon Spring Police Department located him heading North on US 19 around 6:20 p.m. Friday.

Tarpon Springs officers requested assistance from Pasco deputies to stop the vehicle in which Byrne was the passenger. When that vehicle neared the intersection of Brinley Drive and Arelli Drive in New Port Richey, Byrne jumped out of the vehicle and ran into a swampy area near Veterans Village and Trinity West.

By this time, 15 units from Tarpon PD, plus K9 officers and air support had set up a perimeter.

But deputies said Byrne managed to steal an unoccupied minivan and headed westbound on  Lachlan Drive. A Pasco deputy shot the van to disable a tire, but Byrne continued on SR 54 to the Suncoast, and then into Hillsborough County where he spun out into a ditch on Firecracker Drive.

He was then taken into custody.

No one was injured, and Byrne was arrested and taken to the Hillsborough County jail. He will eventually be extradited to Pasco County.