DEPUTY KILLS SUSPECTED DRUG DEALER DURING STING

OLDSMAR - A Pinellas County sheriff's deputy shot and killed a suspected
drug dealer Sunday night after the suspect lurched toward him in a truck,
authorities said.

Deputy Michael Borland was placed on administrative leave with pay after
the 10:30 p.m. shooting at 604 Park Blvd., said Pinellas sheriff's
spokeswoman Marianne Pasha.

The suspect was identified as Earlvin Neal, who goes by his middle name,
Todd. Neal, 37, of 300 W. Douglas Road, Oldsmar, was pronounced dead at
Mease Countryside Hospital after being shot twice in the chest, Pasha said.

Four deputies - two inside, two outside - had been conducting a sting at
the Park Boulevard house, luring suspected drug dealers, when Neal drove up
in a pickup towing a trailer, Pasha said.

After a passenger went inside, Borland and sheriff's Cpl. John Miller
approached the pickup, which was parked in a semicircular drive. At first,
Neal appeared to be cooperating, raising his hands when asked to do so,
Pasha said. But then he dropped his hands to restart the truck, Pasha said.

Miller tried reaching in to grab the keys but then withdrew from the cab as
the truck started moving forward, Pasha said. The lawmen shouted for Neal
to stop but he didn't, driving toward Borland, who was in front of him,
Pasha said.

That's when Borland fired his 9 mm Beretta at Neal through the truck's
windshield and door frame. He fired five times, striking Neal twice.

It was Borland's first shooting, said sheriff's spokesman Cal Dennie, and
he has not been disciplined during his six years with the department.

Neal's criminal history spans more than 15 years and includes a conviction
for dealing marijuana. He was scheduled to appear in court Monday on a
charge of selling cocaine.

In 1991, he was sentenced to 18 months in prison after he grabbed the
holstered firearm of a deputy who was chasing him. It took four other
deputies to pull him off, court records show.