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Published on Sunday, September 5, 2004
in the Miami Herald
HOLLYWOOD, Fla. - With Hurricane Frances kicking up gusts Sunday, the Florida Highway Patrol arrested a North Carolina double-murder suspect when a 21-mile chase on Interstate 95 ended with a crash.
The chase began after troopers received a tip about a man driving a pickup truck with a handgun and bulletproof vest, said FHP Lt. Julio Pajon. The tipster was following the truck and told officers that the driver had confessed the murders to someone else.
The FHP tried to make a traffic stop north of Miami, but the driver sped north on the highway.
Thomas F. Kleingartener, 33, an ex-convict from Ellijay, Ga., was arrested when his truck collided with another vehicle after getting off the highway in this Broward County community. There were no injuries and little damage.
He faced six charges relating to the chase as the Florida Department of Law Enforcement joined the investigation into the killings in Iredell County, North Carolina. Details of the slayings were not immediately available.
Troopers found a handgun stuck in Kleingartener's back waistband, and bullets and a military-style bulletproof vest were in the truck, Pajon said.
The arrest was made before the weather cleared up enough to allow people to return home from Miami-Dade County shelters.