Ex-deputy not guilty in chase

DAYTONA BEACH -- A former Volusia County sheriff's deputy avoided prison Tuesday by being found not guilty of fleeing from police officers, but he was found guilty of reckless driving.

Omar Lopez, 34, of New Smyrna Beach convinced the jury of six that he did not know three Edgewater officers were trying to stop him while he was riding his motorcycle Feb. 10.

Lopez had to pay a fine of $791 for the misdemeanor traffic charge.

The not-guilty verdict on the third-degree felony kept Lopez -- who resigned from the Sheriff's Office after his arrest -- from prison for up to five years.

In his one-day trial before Circuit Judge Frank Marriott, Lopez admitted he was riding with a fellow off-duty deputy. But Lopez insisted he never saw the officer in a marked police car stop his colleague for pulling a wheelie on U.S. 1.

"Did you see the officer with his lights on?" court-appointed defense attorney James Disinger asked. "No," Lopez replied.

The jury was not convinced by a prosecutor's argument that Lopez knew he was being pursued. "Purposeful blindness is not a defense in this case," prosecutor Celeste Gagne said. "He took off at a high rate of speed."

Three Edgewater police officers testified the dark motorcycle took off and a chase was called off after speeds of 55 mph were reached. They said they were responding to a call that two motorcycle riders were seen being reckless.

The off-duty deputy who was riding with Lopez that day, Austin Littleton, 22, acknowledged he "did something stupid" by pulling the front wheel of his 2004 Suzuki GSXR 1000 off the ground on the highway. "A quick twist of the throttle and the front will stand up," he said.

Littleton said he saw the first Edgewater patrol car approach them while they were stopped at the intersection of Lime Tree Drive and Indian River Boulevard.

"We were pulling out when he came to the stop," Littleton said. "I stopped there and sat on my bike and waited."

Littleton, who at first told the officers he didn't know who he was riding with, testified on Tuesday that he saw Lopez continue east on Indian River Boulevard.

In testimony that was likely key to the not-guilty verdict, Littleton said he wasn't clear if Lopez was still next to him when the officer turned on his emergency lights. "It happened so fast," he said.

Littleton testified he thought Officer Joshua Raver turned his emergency lights on after he got out of his patrol car.

Littleton was able to keep his job of three years with a month suspension, and appeared in court wearing his green sheriff's uniform. Lopez, who was with the Sheriff's Office since 2004, resigned before an internal review was completed.

In his closing argument, defense attorney Disinger pointed out it was Littleton who pulled the hot-rodding stunt in traffic, and that his client had no reason to think he would be pulled over.

"They have to prove a crime occurred, that an actual crime was committed," he said. "If Mr. Lopez was just driving away, no crime was committed."

jay.stapleton@news-jrnl.com

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