PORT RICHEY, Fla. (WFLA) – One of Pasco County’s most wanted criminals is off the streets.
But he didn’t give up easily. His dramatic capture was caught on camera Tuesday afternoon, south on US 19 in Port Richey.
Pasco County deputies tailed Erick Batta, after he sped off in a stolen pickup truck when they tried to arrest him.
Body-worn cameras recorded the entire event. Batta wanted no part of being arrested.
“He didn’t want to be caught with ammunition. He didn’t want to be caught with drug paraphernalia and methamphetamine,” said Lt. Toni Roach with the Pasco County Sheriff’s Office.
As Batta drove for miles in the right-turn lane, Lt. Roach said he tossed those items out the window.
Just before Fox Hollow, as Metro PCS employee Patrick Monahan turned to go to work, Batta smashed into him.
Batta lost control of the stolen truck and smashed into a light pole.
Body cameras caught the deputies screaming at him.
“Let me see your hands! Show me your hands!” they yelled.
The disoriented ex-con complied. Deputies had to drag him out.
“This is not the first time he’s fled law enforcement. So it’s really important for us to put this type of person behind bars, so that we can protect our citizens in Pasco County. It’s very unnerving,” said Deputy Roach.
EMS crews arrived to tend to Batta.
Fifty yards away, near a Florida mangled stop sign, a dazed Patrick Monahan sat in his banged up Ford Fiesta.
A co-worker ran to help.
“He couldn’t find his phone, and he was stunned, like, I asked him if he was OK, and he didn’t respond,” said Jamie Kujawa.
Monahan is lucky.
“When I came outside, his whole car was smashed in. There was nothing left, practically of the back of it,” said Kujawa.
Erick Batta, in and out of prison three times, is back behind bars. He just got out of prison last July.
He’s facing a long list of new charges.
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