DEPUTY QUITS AFTER ADMITTING MARIJUANA USE

He was facing a drug test after an accident. In a separate incident,
a state trooper is hurt.

SPRING HILL - A Hernando County sheriff's deputy who was involved in
a car crash Thursday afternoon resigned after admitting to superiors
that he had recently smoked marijuana.

In another, unrelated incident Thursday morning, a Florida Highway
Patrol trooper was slightly injured when the driver of a car he had
stopped tried to drive off, dragging the trooper a short distance.

The crash involving the deputy occurred at 12:08 p.m. at Spring Hill
Drive and Mariner Boulevard. Deputy Patrick Craven was responding to
a call when his cruiser collided with a 2008 Dodge being driven by
Wanda Urquhart, 46, of Spring Hill, according to a report.

After the crash, Craven was given a drug test, which is Sheriff's
Office policy. When advised that a second drug test would be given,
Craven admitted that he had smoked marijuana two weeks ago, according
to sheriff's spokeswoman Donna Black.

After declining the second test, the 29-year-old deputy immediately
quit the force, where he had been employed since July 2006. Black
said there was no indication that Craven was impaired at the time of
the crash or during the investigation.

The sheriff's report stated that Urquhart said she did not see or
hear Craven's cruiser as it approached the intersection. There were
no serious injuries reported, and no charges have been filed, Black
said.

In the earlier incident involving the trooper, 19-year-old Joshua A.
Turbeville of Spring Hill was arrested after he allegedly dragged the
trooper along the road with his car.

Turbeville remained in the Hernando County Jail on charges of
aggravated battery, resisting an officer with violence, fleeing and
eluding a police officer, and failing to remain at a crash scene
involving injury.

According to FHP spokeswoman Heather Glenny, Turbeville was driving
on Middlesex Drive near Toucan Trail near Weeki Wachee at 1:17 a.m.
when he was stopped by Trooper David Frye for having a headlight out.

Glenny said Frye reached into Turbeville's vehicle as Turbeville was
driving off, and was dragged alongside the car for about 30 feet
until he was able to free himself. Other troopers at the scene
stopped Turbeville and made the arrest, she said.

Frye, a three-year veteran of the force, was taken to Oak Hill
Hospital, where he was treated for minor scrapes and bruises.

"He got away lucky," Glenny said of Frye.

A check of Turbeville's Florida driving record indicated several
moving violations in recent years. In addition, his license had been
suspended in 2007 for failure to pay traffic fines.