LAKE CITY, Fla. – A dirt bike rider was arrested Tuesday evening after striking and injuring a deputy in unincorporated Lake City, which prompted a manhunt in a wooded area off State Road 47, the Columbia County Sheriff's Office said.
Kyle George, 24, of Lake City is charged with striking a police officer.
Deputies said they received a report about 6 p.m. that dirt bikes were being driven recklessly in the area of Southwest Packard Street just east of State Road 47.
Cpl. Archie Crews responded and stopped a man on a dirt bike. As Crews exited his vehicle, George tried to drive off, hitting Crews, according to the Sheriff's Office.
George then fell off the dirt bike and ran off on foot, deputies said.
Crews chased George, deputies said, but lost sight of him when he ran into the woods off SR-47. K-9 units from the Sheriff's Office, as well as the Florida Highway Patrol and the Department of Corrections, were called to assist in the search. According to police, George tried to burn some of his clothes to throw the tracking dogs off his scent.
"He radioed immediately. You saw the response that happened when an officer says that he needs help -- we had FHP, FWC, the Lake City Police Department. They all came out to help. That's just the community we live in," said Murray Smith, public information officer for CCSO.
George was found just before 10 p.m. and arrested, deputies said.
"Not only did he continue going north from the scene, but just a short ways away, he took some of his clothes off and burned them in attempt to throw us off. But the dog kept going. And he was captured and on his way to jail," Smith said.
Smith told News4Jax that Crews was airlifted to UF Health Shands Hospital in Gainesville with minor injuries to be evaluated as a precaution. He was released from the hospital Wednesday. His sister says he's sore, but doing well.
“Our thoughts and prayers are with Corporal Crews as we wait for word on his condition," Sheriff Mark Hunter said in a statement released Tuesday night.