- April 19, 2024
-
-
Loading
Loading
Flagler County Sheriff's Office deputies on July 3 used stop sticks to disable a stolen Chevy Impala fleeing south on State Road A1A, according to an FCSO arrest report. They arrested a passenger and the driver, who'd fled through multiple counties with law enforcement in pursuit.
Flagler County deputies had received a "be on the lookout" notice that night about the white 2012 Impala, which had been reported stolen in Jacksonville and was heading south toward the Flagler County line with St. Johns County deputies following, according to an FCSO arrest report.
The FCSO's Problem Area Crime Enforcement Unit responded to canvas the area, and Detective Sergeant Barile and another deputy waited along the road with stop sticks — a tire deflation device — to puncture the car's tires.
The car's front tires hit one of the sets of stop sticks near Washington Oaks, but the Impala continued south on A1A and turned onto Bay Drive, where deputies found it, empty, moments later.
Deputies were searching the area with a police dog when two people emerged from the woodline: Jacksonville residents Amber Blackman, 23; and Jason Respress, 30, according to the arrest report.
Deputies detained them.
Respress denied stealing the car, telling deputies that Blackman had picked him up in the vehicle and that it came from a "friend of a friend." Blackman also told deputies the car was from a friend of a friend, according to the arrest report.
But Respress acknowledged driving it, and said he'd fled from law enforcement because he didn't have a driver's license.
Deputies who checked his record found that his license had been suspended eight times since September 2012, and that he'd twice been convicted in Orange County for driving on a suspended license.
When deputies searched the car and nearby woods, they found two straws with a white powdery substance, a glass smoking pipe and a metal grinder with green leafy residue. They identified the straws as the sort used to consume crack cocaine, according to the arrest report.
“This is another great example of agencies working together to apprehend criminals,” Sheriff Rick Staly said in an FCSO news release. “We were able to get these two booked into the jail and the stolen vehicle returned to its owner. The driver has a long history of driving without a license, and he still has not learned. I guess these two hadn’t heard crime stops in Flagler County.”
Both suspects have been charged with burglary of a conveyance, resisting arrest without violence, and possession of drug paraphernalia. Respress was also charged with driving on a suspended license (third or subsequent offense).
