What began as an attempted traffic stop on Interstate 4 about 2 p.m. on July 21 ended up flooding the east side of DeLand with law-enforcement, with multiple units from the Florida Highway Patrol, the DeLand Police Department and the Volusia County Sheriff’s Office all looking for a suspect who had run from his crashed vehicle.
FHP Trooper B. Cano said he attempted to pull over a vehicle for speeding on I-4 near Interstate 95, but he became suspicious when the male and female occupants switched seats inside the car. The male had been driving, Cano said.
As the stop progressed, the pair switched again, he said. The man again got behind the wheel, the woman got out of the car, and the man took off, Cano said.
Cano pursued and was joined by other troopers as the vehicle, a black Kia sedan, exited the interstate and headed into DeLand on State Road 44 (New York Avenue).
NOT A SIMPLE TRAFFIC STOP — Florida Highway Patrol Trooper B. Cano, at right, talks with a deputy from the Volusia County Sheriff’s Office about 2:30 p.m. July 21 in DeLand, shortly after deputies apprehended a man Cano had tried to stop for speeding on Interstate 4. The man drove off from the traffic stop, drove into DeLand, and crashed his black Kia on East New York Avenue before fleeing the car on foot.
With law enforcement in pursuit, witnesses said, the driver crashed into a chain-link fence around the septic-tank drainfield at Absolute Family Plumbing at 1330 E. New York Ave. The car came to a rest against part of the fence and the driver jumped out and ran away, witnesses said.
At least three agencies responded, and law-enforcement vehicles lined the streets of the residential neighborhood south of New York Avenue, as the Sheriff’s Office helicopter circled overhead.
Not long afterward, the suspect was apprehended by the Volusia County Sheriff’s Office, according to reports on the scene.
A witness at the crash scene in DeLand said he had been driving home to DeLand from Daytona Beach on I-4 this afternoon when the suspect’s vehicle passed him, traveling at a high speed on the shoulder of the interstate. He was surprised to see the same vehicle crashed outside the plumbing business as he arrived.
Additional information was not available at the scene.
