TAVARES, Florida—A Jacksonville Jaguars defensive end was arrested in Tavares early Sunday morning after fleeing Fruitland Park Police.
Lerentee’ Zavonne McCray, 31, fled from FPPD when an officer attempted to pull him over for speeding, according to an arrest affidavit. An officer spotted a white Dodge Ram traveling on County Road 25 at a “high rate of speed” and utilized her radar to find the truck was going 88 mph. The officer attempted to stop the Ram at C.R. 25 and Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard by activating her lights and sirens and the driver, later identified as McCray, put his left arm out of the window and flipped his middle finger at the officer, according to the affidavit.
The officer began to chase McCray and an FPPD sergeant joined in, reaching speeds up to 100 mph, the affidavit states. McCray was driving in “an extremely reckless manner,” swerving across all three southbound lanes of traffic and FPPD terminated the stop.
About 15 minutes later, McCray pulled into 7-Eleven at the corner of U.S. Highway 441 and Banning Beach Road in Tavares. Officers from Tavares Police Department were arresting an individual for drug possession following a traffic stop and were being assisted by a sergeant from Astatula Police Department, according to a TPD report.
McCray, who appeared to know the APD sergeant, gave him a fist bump and then retrieved his wallet. McCray then walked over to a TPD officer’s car, opened the fuel door and walked over to the pump attempting to buy some gas, according to the report. The officer told McCray that was not necessary and closed the fuel door. McCray opened the door again and inserted the fuel nozzle into the patrol car. The officer attempted to take the nozzle from McCray, and he forcefully grabbed the officer’s wrist, and the officer pushed him back, the report states.
McCray then went to the back of his truck and removed a child’s bicycle and placed it on the hood of the truck and began “talking in circles.” McCray then laid on the ground as if he wanted to be handcuffed, the officer noted in the report.
McCray was handcuffed due to his erratic behavior and was not making sense when he spoke. The TPD officer allowed McCray to lean on his knee as they spoke, and McCray fell asleep. Officer called Lake EMS to the scene and as McCray was placed on a stretcher, FPPD informed TPD they had charges for McCray due to him fleeing the earlier traffic stop.
McCray was transported to AdventHealth Waterman in Tavares, where he was arrested by FPPD after he was medically cleared. TPD conducted an inventory of McCray’s truck and found a small bag of marijuana and a Benelli SuperNova shotgun.
McCray is facing a charge of fleeing and eluding he was released from the Lake County Jail on $5,000 bond. McCray played for the University of Florida from 2008 to 2012 and has been a Jacksonville Jaguar since 2017.
