A Bunnell man was arrested Wednesday afternoon, December 17th, after leading Flagler County Sheriff’s Office deputies on a dangerous high-speed chase, then abandoning his vehicle in an attempt to escape on foot.
According to the Sheriff’s Office, a deputy with the FCSO Motors Unit was conducting traffic enforcement on Old Dixie Highway near Bunnell when he clocked a gray Volkswagen traveling 59 miles per hour in a 35-mph zone. When the deputy attempted to initiate a traffic stop, the driver accelerated, crossed into oncoming traffic, and fled toward U.S. Highway 1.
Deputies say the vehicle drove over a curb at the traffic circle and ran a red light at Seminole Woods Boulevard before the pursuing deputy briefly lost sight of it. Other deputies began searching the area and soon spotted the Volkswagen speeding and weaving through traffic on U.S. 1 near Commerce Parkway.
The vehicle eventually turned onto Drain Street, where deputies later found it abandoned near South Anderson Street and Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Avenue. A nearby witness told deputies that two people had jumped out of the vehicle and ran north toward a wooded area.
Deputies quickly located the driver, identified as 22-year-old Byrone Lord of Bunnell, along with a 17-year-old juvenile, walking along the roadway. Both were detained without further incident.
Lord later told deputies he fled because he knew he would go to jail for driving without a license and having marijuana in the car. He also admitted the juvenile passenger had been yelling at him to slow down and stop during the chase.
A search of Lord revealed a small amount of marijuana, three small plastic bags, and $335 in cash in his jacket pocket. Deputies also recovered more than 21 grams of marijuana from inside the vehicle. With assistance from the Sheriff’s Office Real Time Crime Center, deputies later located a purse Lord had discarded along the wood line, which contained an additional 12 grams of marijuana.
“This guy’s driving and decision to recklessly flee impressed neither his passenger nor our deputies and endangered many drivers,” Sheriff Rick Staly said. “He was worried about going to jail for driving without a license and having weed in his car. Now he’s going to jail on multiple felonies.”
Lord was arrested on charges of fleeing or attempting to elude law enforcement with lights and sirens active, possession of marijuana over 20 grams, tampering with evidence, knowingly driving while license suspended, and resisting an officer without violence. He was taken to the Sheriff Perry Hall Inmate Detention Facility, where he is being held on an $18,500 bond.
The juvenile passenger was released to a parent.
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