An Ocala man who allegedly fled the scene of an accident on a damaged motorcycle was apprehended Sunday by a Marion County Sheriff’s K-9 following a harrowing chase.
A sheriff’s sergeant first spotted the motorcycle traveling north on Baseline Road with no license tag attached to it. He turned around and caught up with the motorcycle at the intersection of Baseline Road and E Silver Springs Boulevard at a red light, but the light soon turned green. And after seeing the sergeant approaching him, the man, later identified as 51-year-old Vincent Repka, quickly drove away, a sheriff’s office report states.
The sergeant activated his emergency lights and siren and chased Repka, who eventually drove into the Lindale Mobile Home Park at 5431 NE 35th Street. He eventually wedged his motorcycle between a mobile home and an electrical box and then fled on foot, the report says.
A woman told deputies that she was inside her residence when she “heard a loud crashing noise” and went outside to investigate. She said she walked around a corner of her trailer and encountered Repka, who “ran into her, grabbed her by the shoulders and shoved her out of his way” before heading toward a house across the street, the report says.
The sheriff’s K-9 tracked Repka to the 4900 block of NE 35th Street and apprehended him about 75 feet into a wood line north of the roadway, the report says.
Marion County Fire Rescue treated Repka’s dog bite and released him at the scene. He later was transported to the Emergency Center at Timberridge, located at 9521 SE Hwy. 200, where he was treated and released. He was then transported to the Marion County Jail and charged with resisting an officer (fleeing and eluding a law enforcement officer with lights and siren activated), resisting an officer (obstructing without violence), battery and operating a motor vehicle without a valid driver’s license. He was being held on $12,500 bond.
