On December 22, 2023 at 11:46 pm Florida Highway Patrol Troopers monitoring traffic and conducting speed enforcement along Interstate 4 observed a Volkswagen sedan traveling westbound near Milepost 35 at 119 MPH in a posted 70 MPH speed zone and driving in a reckless manner. The Troopers attempted to conduct a traffic stop, but the vehicle increased its speed and fled from the Troopers with its lights turned off. The fleeing vehicle entered Hillsborough County and reached speeds in excess of 130 MPH, continuing until Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard where the suspect exited the interstate and traveled westbound. The vehicle’s tires eventually disintegrated and with the vehicle now disabled, the suspect stopped at East Lake Avenue and North 34th Street. The suspect, John Dylan Butler, 20, of Apollo Beach, Florida then surrendered without incident.
Following Butler’s arrest, Troopers located drug paraphernalia, 886 oxycodone pills, and a large amount of marijuana. Butler was delivered to the Polk County Jail, charged with fleeing & eluding, reckless driving, and several felony drug charges.
