Man flees deputy, blames Y2K bug

Trying to elude police until after New Year's Eve in hopes a Y2K computer bug would wipe his criminal record clean, a Fort Lauderdale teenager was arrested Wednesday after ramming a patrol car.

Clifford Reid, 18, was booked into Broward County Jail on charges of leaving the scene of an accident with injuries, fleeing and eluding a law enforcement officer, speeding, driving without a license and resisting arrest without violence.

``He told us he was trying to avoid getting caught until the Year 2000,'' said Broward sheriff's spokesman Kirk Englehardt. ``He hoped a Y2K bug would wipe out his warrants, giving him a clean slate.

``Let's just say this gentleman's lacking in computer skills,'' Englehardt added.

According to BSO, deputies clocked Reid speeding near Davie Boulevard and Southwest 31st Street on Wednesday about 11 a.m. They tried to pull Reid over, but he refused to stop, deputies said.

He led deputies on a chase into a nearby neighborhood. While trying to speed away, he rammed the left rear bumper of a patrol car, deputies said. He continued driving, then jumped out several blocks away. Deputies caught him after a short foot chase.

The deputy whose car was rammed suffered minor neck injuries.

Reid had six outstanding arrest warrants. Five were for traffic violations; a sixth was for violation of probation and drug possession.

``He was trying to have his slate wiped clean,'' Englehardt said. ``But he had a lot more added to it today.''


-- Online2Much (ready_for_y2k@mindspring.com), July 01, 1999