Neighbors hold accused truck thief at gunpoint as he flees traffic stop, Florida cops say
A man accused in a string of thefts fled a traffic stop in Florida, only to be stopped by some of his armed neighbors, a sheriff’s office said.
Deputies were patrolling Walton County and on the lookout for a stolen red Dodge Ram, the sheriff’s office said in a Nov. 4 news release.
Then a deputy spotted a Dodge Ram that had been painted black “to throw off law enforcement,” the sheriff’s office said.
The deputy attempted a traffic stop of the vehicle before the driver, 37, took off on foot, deputies said.
Deputies started a manhunt for the accused thief, searching for 30 minutes before they were “led” to a nearby home, they said.
In a video shared by the sheriff’s office, dash camera footage shows a deputy arriving at the home to find three people pointing guns at the suspect who was lying on the ground.
As the deputy got out of the patrol car, the neighbors backed up from the man and pointed at him, the video shows.
The deputy quickly took the man into custody.
The man “was being sought for questioning related to multiple thefts in DeFuniak Springs and surrounding areas,” the sheriff’s office said.
He was charged with grand theft auto and resisting arrest, according to the sheriff’s office, and more charges are expected. He’s accused in the theft of an “ATV, a truck, a utility trailer, ANOTHER utility trailer.... the list goes on,” deputies said in a post last week.
DeFuniak Springs is about 130 miles west of Tallahassee.
This story was originally published November 6, 2023 at 9:03 AM with the headline "Neighbors hold accused truck thief at gunpoint as he flees traffic stop, Florida cops say."
