ST. JOHNS COUNTY, Fla. – A Florida man was arrested Monday after authorities say he commandeered someone's golf cart and then led a deputy on a brief chase through St. Johns County.
The deputy tried to pull the golf cart over after seeing it cruise through the intersection of U.S. 1 and Palencia Village Drive, according to the St. Johns County Sheriff's Office, but the driver didn't stop. The golf cart wove down U.S. 1 with the deputy in tow before veering in front of oncoming traffic and into a ditch.
Deputies said the driver bailed out and took off on foot, but he was captured a short time later at an apartment complex nearby. It was while the driver was being taken into custody that deputies found out he had taken the golf cart from the victim, who said he was attacked and robbed by a total stranger.
Palencia Village residents, such as Danny Bouse, said the incident is unsettling.
"It's kind of weird to be in my neighborhood," Bouse told News4Jax. "It's, kind of, a quiet neighborhood in Palencia, so it's not very common that something like this happens."
Andrew Burnett, 42, of Sanford, was booked into the St. Johns County jail on charges of robbery, fleeing and eluding, battery, criminal mischief, and resisting a law enforcement officer. He remains in custody in lieu of $8,000 bail.
Court records show Burnett has previously been arrested in Seminole County on charges of aggravated battery, burglary and trespassing.