News

Former exotic dancer gets 15 years in rampage case

TBO.com
Published: December 5, 2012

NEW PORT RICHEY - Brittany Miles, who was convicted for battery on a law enforcement officer after a 2011 rampage that injured a Pasco County deputy, was sentenced Tuesday to 15 years in prison.

Miles, 23, will also face a charge of first-degree felony murder in Hernando County in the death of motorcyclist Henry McCain, 67, who was killed during the rampage that began in Pasco County. If convicted of that charge she faces life in prison.

The 15-year sentence in Pasco includes time served.

Miles originally faced a felony attempted murder charge, but the jury found her guilty of the lesser infraction of battery on a law enforcement officer. Jurors also found the former exotic dancer guilty of escape, fleeing to elude and driving under the influence.

Miles was stopped on the morning of May 10, 2011, and arrested on a charge of driving under the influence. Seated in the back of a sheriff's cruiser, authorities said, Miles managed to wiggle her right wrist out of handcuffs and escape, running to her red Dodge Ram pickup.

Pasco Deputy Ashley Grady reached through the truck's window while standing on the running board. A short time after the truck sped off, Grady said she was pushed from the vehicle, her body landing on southbound U.S. 19. She suffered assorted injuries, including a cut on the back of her head, a concussion, broken left tibia and cuts to her arms from rolling on the pavement. Miles contends she didn't push the deputy.

"I did not mean to hurt you," Miles told Grady during Tuesday's proceedings, "and I am sorry and I just want you to know that. Judge Andrews, I'm just asking for a second chance. That's it."

Grady, a Pasco deputy since June 2010, testified Miles had failed a series of sobriety tests in the parking lot of a Hudson business before she broke loose from the sheriff's cruiser and ran to the pickup.

After a lengthy chase just past the Hernando County line, Miles' pickup slammed into McCain's motorcycle, killing him, deputies said. Miles' Hernando County trial is slated for Jan. 22.