He tried to crash into a crime scene van in the Keys, deputies say. They had to stun him
A Key Largo man tried to ram a crime scene van with his car Thursday night, according to the Monroe County Sheriff’s Office.
Erick Ornelas, 25, was arrested on a felony charge of fleeing and eluding a police officer and misdemeanor obstruction.
According to a sheriff’s office press release, Detective Ignacio Molina was driving the crime scene van south on U.S. 1 at mile marker 102 around 8:30 p.m. when he saw a white Chevy Camaro passing traffic without its signal turned on.
The car passed the van and almost clipped its bumper, sheriff’s office spokesman Adam Linhardt said. Molina said he had to swerve to avoid being hit by the Camaro.
The deputy turned on the van’s flashing lights to get the Camaro driver, who police say was Ornelas, to pull over. Instead, the driver turned his car toward the van to crash into it, Linhardt said.
He kept driving for another quarter mile before pulling over in the median of U.S. 1 around mile marker 101.
Linhardt said Ornelas refused to get out of the car and kept reaching under the driver’s side seat, “despite multiple orders to not do so.”
Deputies pulled him out of the car, but he kept struggling until one of them used a stun gun to subdue him, according to the release.
This story was originally published August 21, 2020 at 6:59 PM.
