WTLV (Jacksonville, Florida) 23 October 07 Pygmy Rattler Sets Off Police Chase (Jessica Clark)
Putnam County, FL: Ohlen Rimes hobbles on crutches just days after a snake bit him twice on his foot. It happened in his backyard in Bostwick.
His wife, Brenda heard some commotion. "My son yelled, 'Momma, Ohlen got bit by a pigmy rattler! Get him to the hospital!'"
With her husband in the passenger seat, Brenda put on her flashing lights, honked her horn and started speeding to the Putnam Community Medical Center.
On the way, she drove right by a Putnam County Sheriff's Deputy who clocked her going 70 miles-per-hour in a 45 miles-per-hour area. The deputy turned on his lights and siren -- but Brenda didn't stop.
"At the time, I didn't know you're supposed to pull over and let them lead you because all I was thinking about was getting Ohlen to the hospital. He'd been bitten! I didn't know how much venom he had in him," Brenda said.
Putnam County Sheriff Dean Kelly said Brenda should have stopped when she heard the siren and saw the lights.
"We can certainly understand emotions are involved when someone thinks they're in an emergency, but that deputy can be the first line of assistance," Kelly said.
In the report, the deputy says Brenda nearly hit a wheelchair and ran a car off into a ditch. Brenda disputes those claims. She said there was no wheelchair, and she says the car pulled off to the side to let her pass.
After a high speed chase, Rimes reached the hospital. The deputy was right behind them.
Brenda said, "When I got down there, I got out of the car and I kept telling him, 'My husband got snake-bit! My husband got snake bit.'"
Olhen said, "She stopped and got out of the car, the cop pulled a gun on her and told her to turn around."
Brenda said, "He snatched me around and put handcuffs on my hands and drug me over to the police car and threw me in it."
Meanwhile, Ohlen had stepped outside the car. He said, "I told them, 'I got the snake right here. I've been snake bit.' acted like he didn't even care."
Sheriff Kelly says when an officer is chasing someone he may not know why the driver isn't pulling over.
"The officer does not know what their reason is. He could have someone who just committed a crime," Kelly said.
Ohlen was eventually taken into the hospital and treated. He was released after several hours. However, he started to feel knots and pain in his leg the next day. Ohlen went NAS Jax to be examined, and it was determined the poison has now traveled up to his thigh.
As for Brenda, the deputy chose not to arrest her, but she did get a $120 ticket for reckless driving.
http://www.firstcoastnews.com/news/news-article.aspx?storyid=94212

PALATKA DAILY NEWS (Florida) 23 October 07 Wife rattled by snakebite leads deputy on chase; PCSO doesn’t make arrest (Ron Bartlett)
A Bostwick woman took a Putnam County Sheriff’s deputy on a high-speed chase Friday evening before pulling into the emergency room, where the frantic driver told authorities that her husband had been bitten by a snake.
According to a sheriff’s report, Deputy Terry Byers was conducting a radar detail in his parked cruiser when, just past 6:15 p.m., a green SUV sped by heading south on County Road 216.
Byers turned on his lights and caught the car at the intersection of CR 216 and State Road 100, where he engaged his siren. In his report, the deputy said the SUV ignored his siren and was speeding recklessly, swerving and passing cars.
As the SUV reached Moody Road, traveling 70 mph in a 45 mph zone, it ran a red light, then turned left onto Zeagler Drive, where it ran another stop sign and forced a black sedan into a ditch.
As the car turned into Putnam Community Medical Center, the report said the driver nearly hit a man pushing a wheelchair, then pulled in front of the outpatient receiving facility, where it stopped, squealing its brakes.
Byers got out his car and ordered the driver, Brenda Rimes, 57, out of the car. As she was placed in handcuffs, she continued to say her husband was “snake bit.”
The report said Rimes was being secured in the patrol car when the passenger door of the SUV opened and a man got out holding a blue dish — with the remains of a dead pygmy rattlesnake. The report noted that the man, Ohlen Rimes, 51, was speaking and standing on his own and did not appear to be in dire need of medical attention. Realizing the situation, Byers told him to get medical help and then consulted with his supervisor.
Lt. Richard Harrell arrived on scene and decided that, due to the unusual circumstances, a physical arrest would not be the best course of action, the report said. Harrell explained to Brenda Rimes that, regardless of circumstances, Florida law requires a motorist to yield to an emergency vehicle with its lights on and that she endangered other motorists and law enforcement. She was then released and issued a citation for careless driving.
According to a University of Florida Web site on indigenous snakes, pygmy rattlesnakes, while “feisty” and apt to bite, have small venom glands and don’t inject large quantities of poison when they strike. While a bite can be serious, few if any people have died from a pygmy rattlesnake bite.
http://www.palatkadailynews.com/articles/2007/10/23/news/news03.txt

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