HANDCUFFED SUSPECT TAKES POLICE CRUISER ON A CHASE
By ALICIA LEONARD
Photos via Florala Police Department Fb page and WCSO
WALTON COUNTY, Florida,
What started out as a call Florala, Ala. Police Department officers first responded to the afternoon of Aug. 14, 2016 ended across state lines, with multiple agencies involved, and a seemly determined escape suspect.
Florala Police Chief Sonny Bedsole released a statement that officers from his department responded to a call regarding a subject brandishing a firearm in a neighborhood on South 9th Street in Florala, Ala.
The officers soon discovered the subject, Anthony Scott Brown, age 30, from Opp, Ala., had felony warrants in Florida for Violation of Probation, Grand Theft Auto, and a local warrant for fleeing and attempting to elude.
Officers from the Covington County Incident Response Team were contacted to assist with the arrest of Brown.
Several occupants of the home where Brown was located were able to leave the residence before Brown was talked into surrendering without incident after officers set up a perimeter around the home where he was found.
Law enforcement officials were able to take Brown into custody and he was handcuffed and placed into a patrol car.
Officers and deputies then entered the home to recover firearms, and clear and secure the residence where Brown had been located.
Meanwhile, Brown was able to maneuver his handcuffed hands from the back of his body to the front of his body, slide through a small partition window in the Florala Patrol car he was placed in, and drove the car off from the scene.
Brown headed south, and soon crossed over from Alabama and into Florida, giving chase to different law enforcement agencies from Covington County for three miles.
Brown failed to negotiate a curve on SR-85 south, and lost control of the patrol car. He slide into a ditch, before hitting an embankment and finally a tree before coming to a full stop.
Florida Highway Patrol states after he finally came to a stop, he exited the vehicle and fled on foot.
Brown was apprehended again a short time later by (K-9 units from the (Walton Correctional Institution)WCI and WCSO per a WCSO fb post) along with support from other agencies 1.5 miles from the scene of the crash, while attempting to break into a private citizen’s vehicle.
Brown has been charged with Theft of Property, Escape, and Reckless Endangerment in Alabama. The FHP reports he has been charged with Reckless Driving, Leaving the Scene of a Crash, and Driving While License Suspended at this time in Florida .
UPDATE: Per WSFA 12 News (www.wsfa.com) Brown is being held in the Walton County Jail, securely, while awaiting extradition to Covington County.
