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Boca police officer suffered a head injury while chasing a suspect that started a four-hour search on 20th Street last Friday, according to Boca police records.   

FAU police warned students through the school’s alert system to avoid the 20th Street entrance so they could help Boca police during their search of the suspect.

Robert Hollingsworth and Zavier Meeks were sleeping in a storage unit — that was two months behind on rent and was supposed to have been vacated two weeks prior — at 1746 Avendia Del Sol, according to Boca police.

Hollingsworth gave the officer his Illinois driver’s license to run through the Boca Raton Police Department Dispatch. He notified officers David Rosenthal and Amie Greenberg that he had an outstanding warrant in Illinois. Meeks did not have identification.

Following confirmation that the warrant was active, Hollingsworth fled the scene.

Rosenthal was later injured while chasing him on foot through bushes and subsequently falling onto asphalt.

“Ofc. Rosenthal was lying on the ground unconscious with a large puddle of blood forming underneath his head,” Boca police records said.

Police reports state that Rosenthal “suffered both a broken and dislocated shoulder and needed several stitches to close the 4-inch gash on his right eyebrow.”

According to Boca police records, Hollingsworth stopped and asked a Boca resident if he could use his cellphone to call a friend and an Uber. The resident handed him the phone and Hollingsworth handed him a newspaper that he had on his person.

The Boca resident noticed police helicopters and officers with K9 units and realized they were in pursuit of Hollingsworth. According to Boca police, when the Boca resident looked back at Hollingsworth, he was gone.

Hollingsworth was spotted again at the Life in Progress student housing center at 280 NW 20th Street with the Boca resident’s cellphone, Boca police records say. He was finally arrested at a different apartment complex on 20th Street.

He is facing charges of resisting arrest, petty theft and an out-of-state drug warrant.

Hollingsworth was booked at 6:55 p.m. on May 12. His first court appearance was on May 13 at the Fifteenth Judicial Circuit of Florida court.

He has two court ordered bonds set, one for resisting arrest set at $1,000 and another for petty theft set at $5,000.

Palm Beach County Court records do not state if, or when he will face charges in Illinois for his drug warrant.

Joe Pye is the news editor of the University Press. For information regarding this or other stories, email [email protected] or tweet him @jpeg3189.