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McDonald's disturbance ends in police-involved shooting in Plant City

 
Published Jan. 21, 2017

PLANT CITY — What started as a disturbance at McDonald's ended with a car chase, crash and police-involved shooting on Friday night, police said.

At 9:35 p.m., Plant City police got a call that there was a "large and hostile group" at the McDonald's on 2001 James L. Redman Parkway, according to a news release. When police arrived, a man fired at least one round toward marked officers, police said.

Police named him as Isaac Macher Thomas, 24, of Winter Haven.

Then, police said, Thomas got in his white four-door sedan and fled. An officer pursued the suspect, following him onto Alexander Street. The chase continued to the Reynolds Street intersection, when police said Thomas tried to turn east on Reynolds.

Instead, the suspect crashed his car into a dental office in a nearby business plaza. Thomas ran west on foot, police said, when a second officer, Sergeant James Burchett, arrived on the scene.

Thomas pointed his gun at Burchett, who became "fearful that his life was in imminent danger," the release said. The sergeant shot Thomas, who was taken to Lakeland Regional Medical Center with non-life-threatening injuries.

Police did not identify the first officer involved.

The department said, per protocol, Burchett will be on an administrative leave pending the outcome of investigations by the Plant City Police Department, The Florida Department of Law Enforcement and the Hillsborough County State Attorney's Office.

He is a seven-year employee of the department. Prior to his work in Plant City, Burchett served with the Pittsylvania County Sheriff's Office in Chatham, Virginia.

"His prompt response and actions swiftly concluded a potentially dangerous situation," the department said in a second news release."