WCSO March 19 2023 pursuit

A still frame from a WCSO dash camera shows WCSO and RCSO deputies render aid to a man who they said had a "self-inflicted" knife wound following a vehicle pursuit on March 19, 2023.

 WCSO

WARNING: This story contains information about suicide. If you or a loved one is thinking about suicide, please call the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline (NSPL) at 1-800-273-8255. The NSPL provides 24-hour, free support to those in distress, as well as prevention and crisis resources for you or loved ones.

Charges are pending against a Columbia man who law enforcement officials said led deputies on a multi-county pursuit before attempting suicide on the interstate.

According to the Williamson County Sheriff's Office, around 4:30 p.m. on March 19, a WCSO deputy attempted to pull over a vehicle traveling eastbound on Interstate 840 following a BOLO (Be On the Lookout) call made by a medical official about a reckless driver who was swerving across lanes in a van. 

WCSO Lt. Chris Mobley said that the driver, later identified as 54-year-old Patrick Lomantini, refused to stop and led deputies in a pursuit at speeds over 100 mph into Rutherford County where Rutherford County Sheriff's Office deputies joined the pursuit and were able to use a spike strip to disable the van's passenger side rear tire.

The van was recorded on police dash cameras swerving around vehicles, and WCSO officials said that at one point the van swerved towards a deputy's vehicle, causing the deputy to drive into the grass median.

The pursuit passed the I-840/I-24 interchange, coming to an end at the 58.2 mile marker when the van pulled over and stopped, at which point deputies are seen approaching the vehicle with their guns drawn.

"When he raised his hands up, they could see blood all over his hands so they went ahead and approached the vehicle since they could see his hands, and that's when they could see that he had an arterial bleed from the right side of his neck," Mobley said. "So they kind of switched gears and got him out of the van and got their medkits."

WCSO said that the wound was self-inflicted. 

Lomantini was transported to a Vanderbilt University Medical Center and has yet to be released and booked on the pending charges of speeding, failure to maintain lane, evading arrest with a motor vehicle, reckless endangerment with a deadly weapon and aggravated assault on a first responder.

WCSO said that Lomantini resisted the deputies who recovered a knife from the van's floorboard, adding that no one else was injured in the incident.

Tags