Carjacker lived life of contradiction

The young man who died in a flaming crash Monday would help friends and spread warmth, yet stole cars.

By LEANORA MINAI, Times Staff Writer
© St. Petersburg Times
published March 6, 2002

ST. PETERSBURG -- Reggie Johnson could charm his young niece and nephew into the giggles. He thought nothing of helping a friend move. He could hit a baseball a country mile.

Johnson

But Johnson also could instill terror. At age 18, he had already stolen six cars and had been locked up for battery and possession of crack cocaine.

This contradiction of character, capable of inspiring warmth one moment and horror the next, came to a sudden and violent end Monday in a mass of burning metal. Behind the wheel of a stolen Chevrolet Tahoe, Johnson slammed into a tree while being pursued by police.

"Something went wrong. He just got caught up with the wrong people in the streets," said his father, David Johnson, 55. "For the last two or three years, I haven't been around him."

Investigators late Tuesday identified Johnson's remains through fingerprints, and then notified his mother, Beverly Johnson. She said police should not have chased him Monday night.

"In the end, he's dead," she said.

Police say that on Monday afternoon, Johnson, also suspected in an attempted carjacking in Clearwater earlier in the day, was armed and driving out of control before the Tahoe struck a tree in the 1600 block of 22nd Avenue N.

"At that time of day, I truly thank God there was nobody crossing 22nd Avenue at 16th Street," said St. Petersburg traffic Officer Mike Jockers. "It could have been so much worse."

Johnson, the youngest of three children, was born in St. Petersburg and attended Skyview Elementary and Pinellas Park Middle School.

An athlete, he swung a softball bat at 3. Football and baseball trophies adorn a hutch in his mother's apartment. More trophies are packed in the garage, his mother said.

"He was a very quiet person, and he had a good heart," Mrs. Johnson said.

At 12, though, he stole his first car, police said. When his parents separated four years ago, he found more trouble, his parents said.

"He loved his dad," his mother said. "He was crazy about his dad."

The year 2000 seemed to accelerate the troubles.

He stole three cars and robbed a bank teller, police said.

At the same time, he made football jerseys out of T-shirts for friends in his apartment complex. They played football in the courtyard and called themselves the "De-Mo Bull Dogs."

"He was just a cool person," said Jashea Linder, 15. Yet she could not explain why he stole cars. "Maybe he just needed something to do."

Johnson attended Pinellas Marine Institute, a juvenile offender program on St. Pete Beach. He also spent time at a program in Polk County. Johnson had been home a year and was enrolled at Dixie Hollins High School.

His mother said she and her son argued Sunday night and that she stayed at her older son's home to calm down. When she returned Monday, Johnson was gone.

Johnson's movements Monday are unclear, but authorities are investigating whether he was involved in an attempted carjacking and shooting in Clearwater at 3:20 p.m.

In the Clearwater incident, a green minivan tried to block a black GMC Yukon. A man with a gun got out of the minivan, but the driver of the Yukon put his truck in reverse to escape. Two shots were fired, and the driver of the Yukon was struck in the thigh.

Then at 5:43 p.m. in Brandon, a similar incident happened, only shots were not fired. In the Brandon case, the assailant also got out of a green minivan and approached James Ackerman of Valrico.

"I don't want any trouble," Johnson told Ackerman, according to police. "Give me your keys, your wallet and your money."

Ackerman handed over the keys to his black Chevrolet Tahoe. The Tahoe was equipped with OnStar, a global positioning system. OnStar notified St. Petersburg police when Johnson got to Gandy Boulevard and Fourth Street.

Police tried to stop Johnson on Fourth Street N and 22nd Avenue N, but he sped away, driving off the road and narrowly missing a business. He was going about 100 mph and was three blocks ahead of police when he crashed into the tree, police said.

"At no time did he ever even attempt to brake," said Jockers, the St. Petersburg officer. "The vehicle was spinning sideways and the tires were spinning underneath it."

-- Staff writer Chris Tisch and Times researcher Cathy Wos contributed to this report.

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