TAMPA, Fla. (WFLA) — Florida deputies had to pull a suspect out of a swamp after he tried hiding in a pond while fleeing from them, as seen on body cam video.
The Flagler County Sheriff’s Office said Alunzo Devon Peoples, 23, of Gainesville fled from deputies Thursday morning when a deputy tried to pull his vehicle over due to a suspended license.
Peoples did a u-turn and tried to speed away while a deputy followed from a safe distance, according to deputies.
The sheriff’s office said the suspect continued making turns and ran through a red light before it drove over another deputy’s stop sticks on CR-304. This caused the vehicle to lose control and crash into a canal.
Peoples then abandoned the vehicle, prompting deputies to set up a perimeter and search for him.
The sheriff’s office said Peoples was found in a cypress pond 200 yards away from the crash site after a helicopter with the Volusia Sheriff’s Office spotted his heat signature from the air.
Flagler County marine deputies then deployed an airboat to find him.
Body cam video showed the deputies call out for Peoples, who told them he was coming to turn himself in. The deputies then asked him if he was injured as he was being handcuffed.
“Hey, chin up, everything’s done now,” one deputy said to Peoples. “Hey, no hard feelings. It is what it is. You got caught.”
The sheriff’s office said 2.56 gram of cocaine were found in a plastic bag that fell out of People’s vehicle while it was being towed away.
“We do not give up getting our man,” Sheriff Rick Staly added. “Fleeing from a deputy is never a smart move. You only go to jail tired and, in this case, muddy and wet! He also endangered our deputies and citizens with his reckless driving.”
Peoples was arrested on four charges, including fleeing and eluding and cocaine possession.
