TAMPA POLICE SAY DRIVER TRIED TO CRUSH OFFICER

To dislodge a police officer clinging to his speeding Corvette, Legrand Pratt Jr. tried crashing into a telephone pole and later struck a parked Toyota Land Cruiser, police say. What started as a check on a suspicious vehicle about 11 p.m. Sunday on Beach Street turned into an officer being dragged several blocks. Officer Kiet Truong, 32, suffered bruises, scrapes, cuts and swelling to his knees, arms, head and hands, a criminal arrest affidavit states.

Legrand Pratt Jr.Police charged Pratt, 42, of Charlotte, N.C., with felony attempted murder of a law enforcement officer, felony aggravated fleeing to elude, felony grand theft auto and misdemeanor driving without a valid license, among other charges. He was being held without bail today at Orient Road Jail.

Truong, who joined the Tampa Police Department in 2006, and Officer David Bradley encountered Pratt near West Beach Street and North Rome Avenue after a police pilot spotted a 1994 Chevrolet Corvette driving erratically, Police spokeswoman Andrea Davis said. The officers found the white Corvette parked with its door open in a vacant lot at Rome and Beach. While the officers checked on the car, Pratt approached it, according to the affidavit. He was nervous, didn't cooperate and got in the Corvette, saying his identification was in the console.

Bradley got Pratt's identification to run for warrants. Sensing Pratt's nervousness, Truong asked for his keys, the affidavit states. Pratt ignored him, so Truong asked him to step out of the car. Pratt ignored that, too, moving the keys to the ignition. Truong tried to grab the keys, but Pratt managed to start the car and drove off with Truong hanging on, Davis said. Truong's right arm was pinned by Pratt and the Corvette's steering wheel.

Truong got his legs into the Corvette and tried hitting its brakes with his feet.

Pratt drove the Corvette toward a telephone pole, "clearly attempting to crush Officer Truong," the affidavit states. "The officer was able to turn the wheel away narrowly escaping the collision." Driving in excess of 50 mph, Pratt intentionally struck a parked 2005 Toyota Land Cruiser and continued driving without stopping, according to the affidavit. The Land Cruiser had about $5,000 damage.

Truong pulled loose at Beach and Armenia Avenue, and Pratt shoved Truong out and drove off, the affidavit states. After Truong fell away from the car, another officer used an "immobilization technique," tapping the Corvette with his patrol car to stop the driver, Davis said.

The Corvette crashed into a telephone pole at Himes Avenue and West Braddock Street, where it caught fire, Davis said. No one was injured in the blaze.

Pratt later told police he took off with Truong because the officers scared him, and he admitted he disposed of drugs in the car during the pursuit, the affidavit states.

Davis said Pratt was wanted on a warrant from York County, S.C., for "possession of a vehicle and breach of trust over $5,000." The charge is related to Pratt leaving a stolen car at a lot and test-driving a 1994 Chevrolet Corvette, which he never returned, she said. The Corvette is the car involved in the incident with Truong, Davis said.

Truong was unavailable to speak today, police spokeswoman Janelle McGregor said. "The last we heard, he was sore and had minor injuries," she said. "He was in good spirits, though." Pratt's sister, Angela Matthews, 32, of Charlotte, said in a phone interview Monday that Pratt had come to Tampa to find a job in construction or auto repair. The family has cousins in Tampa, she said. She did not know of Pratt's arrest until told by a reporter. However, she said, "He does have a tendency to get into trouble."

Public records show Pratt has been incarcerated in Florida and in North Carolina.

He served two sentences here for felony grand theft of a motor vehicle, most recently being released in 2006. In North Carolina, his criminal background dates from 1982, when he was convicted of a misdemeanor charge of pointing a gun and escalated to serving nearly six years in prison after being classified as a habitual felon. Matthews said her brother in the past has traded drugs for the use of a person's car, which later was reported stolen. She said he told her two weeks ago he had been diagnosed with schizophrenia.

"He's never done anything to hurt anyone intentionally. He's been more self-destructive," she said.