Suspect attempts to escape officials in chase
By Rachael Perry
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MARTIN COUNTY, Florida (WPBF) — Video shows a man running from law enforcement following an attempted traffic stop in Martin County.
According to the Martin County Sheriff’s Office, a Florida Highway Patrol trooper attempted to pull over the suspect, 25-year-old Gaspar Burnside, in Palm City on Friday, January 10, 2025.
However, Martin County Sheriff John Budensiek said Burnside wouldn’t stop.
“The suspect had a fast car, drove across the Veterans Bridge and Indian Street, and then went all the way through the southern part of our county,” Budensiek told WPBF.
The Martin County Sheriff’s Office was called in to assist and deployed their aviation unit to utalize their helicopter.
“The Highway Patrol actually pulled back, and the suspect, again, was on his own. But our aviation unit was up, and they could see clearly that the suspect was driving recklessly, running cars off the road,” Budensiek said.
He said Burnside then passed a sheriff’s deputy and the chase resumed. Shortly after, Budensiek said the pursuit became too reckless and they had to disengage.
“The helicopter stayed on. Again, the same trend happened, driving recklessly, running cars off the road. We’re going to show you a video where there was almost a T-Bone crash,” he explained.
Despite officials choosing not to chase him, Budensiek said the suspect continued driving recklessly.
“Not chasing them did not fix that problem. Public safety was in danger because we were not chasing them. We radioed ahead to Palm Beach County, Jupiter Police Department, and the suspect headed in that direction,” he said.
He said even though the suspect was leaving their jurisdiction, they were still legally able chase him under the fresh-pursuit law.
“So the end of the pursuit actually played out where the suspect found what he thought was a one-way street, and tried to hide,”
However, he said their aviation unit was able to call the nearest unit, which happened to be the same trooper who attempted the initial traffic stop.
“He pulled right into the parking lot, and he took action immediately to keep that suspect from running. He tried to do a pit maneuver, which ended up looking more like he pushed on the vehicle with his vehicle,”
The pursuit continued from Stuart through Hobe Sound and eventually ended on County Line Road in Tequesta.
The suspect is then seen attempting to get away, but Budensiek said the road was already blocked off. He’s seen pulling away using another route before running from his car.
“He jumped out of the car and ran, hit a couple fences, threw some drugs, but that trooper stayed with him, was able to take him into custody by himself,” Budensiek said. “We had aerial support, but he was actually by himself taking that suspect into custody.”
To chase or not to chase
Whenever a chase like this comes up, Budensiek said it raises questions from the public on their pursuit policy.
“So our pursuit policy is pretty direct and gives us the latitude to chase violent, fleeing felons. It also gives us leeway to pursue those who are dangerous to the public at large. That policy mirrors or has mirrored the industry standard,” he said.
However, he said they’ve noticed a trend that has caused concern in the department.
“We have noticed a trend now when we stop pursuing, now that we have a helicopter that can actually take a good video, that these individuals are still careening at high rates of speed through our county,” Budensiek told WPBF.
With that said, Budensiek said the issue with pursuits is that they could also put others at risk of getting hurt.
“The argument then becomes, do we pursue somebody for just a traffic violation, and then god forbid something bad happens? Right? The answer is no, we don’t want to do that,” he said. “But then now we know that this same individual has not stopped running, and in fact they are careening through our county, running red lights, running cars off the road, and they’re an extreme danger to our public.”
He said that makes the problem such a balancing act.
“So yes, it started with just a traffic stop, and yes, they may be just a drug offender, I understand that side, but we have a public safety obligation to stop this individual from crashing into one of our loved ones on the street,” he added.
WPBF asked Budensiek when the department would typically terminate a pursuit.
“A level one pursuit would be a violent, fleeing felon. Those are people that we have to stop. A level two pursuit is something like a traffic stop that they just don’t stop and so our supervisors, our deputies and the supervisors know that we’re not going to chase them,” he explained.
However, he said using communication, background information and helicopter, they will continue to keep an eye on the suspect.
“We will set up ahead of them if we have the means to do so in order to stop them. So, we will still attempt to monitor a pursuit, but we will pull back and not put pressure on the suspect. Again, we don’t want to push them into running and then push them into crashing,” he said.
Since a pursuit has the ability to end in a tragedy, Budensiek said they they’re very careful with their decision making.
“It’s important for me for the public to understand that we are not playing fast and loose. We are walking a tight rope every single day with these pursuits. We have terrible outcomes. We’ve had them in the past. We’re likely, due to the volume, to have them in the future. It’s important for me that the public understands that each and every pursuit is a danger to them, our law enforcement officers, and we take that seriously,” Budensiek added.
Burnside is facing multiple charges and is being held at the Martin County Jail on a $745,000 bond.
The Florida Highway Patrol is leading the investigation.
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