PALM COAST, Fla. – Multiple people including a Flagler County deputy found themselves in harm’s way when a suspected trio of organized thieves attempted to evade capture.
According to the arrest report, Tuesday afternoon, a Flagler County deputy responded to a theft in progress call from a shopping plaza on State Road 100. The deputy noted in the report that when he arrived, he saw two women running in the parking lot who matched the description of thieves who had just stolen merchandise from a Bath and Body Works store.
The two women were later identified as Tiara Gailyard, 29, of Jacksonville, and Amanda Wright, 36, of Jacksonville. The responding deputy said both women ran towards a white get-away car that was driven by Gerald Jenkins, 28, of Jacksonville.
The deputy’s bodycam recorded him walking up to the driver’s side of the suspect’s car and then nearly getting hit when the driver put the vehicle in reverse before speeding off.
According to the arrest report, before that near miss, the deputy made eye contact with Jenkins and ordered Jenkins to stop before the car sped in reverse toward the deputy and another car in the parking lot. The deputy also noted in the report that the license plate on the get-away car was covered with a surgical mask to avoid identifying who the car belonged to.
View the bodycam footage below
The report stated the trio sped away from the parking lot onto State Road 100 at a high rate of speed to avoid other responding deputies, even swerving around other cars on the road to get away, but when another deputy deployed a spike strip, the car swerved around the strip, lost control and crashed into a water retention area next to a gas station.
All three suspects were taken into custody. When deputies searched the partially submerged car, they said they found a magnetic device that is used to remove anti-theft devices at stores. They also found more than $1,800 worth of merchandise that was stolen from a T.J. Maxx store and a Bath and Body Works store that were in the same shopping plaza.
Employees from both stores who are identified in the arrest report as witnesses told investigators, that the trio walked out of the stores without paying for any of the merchandise they grabbed. They also said there was surveillance video of the trio that could be used as evidence. In addition to the surveillance videos, the witnesses told investigators that they saw the get-away car nearly striking the deputy who was the first to arrive on the scene.
All three suspects are no strangers to law enforcement.
Jenkins is a fugitive who has warrants for grand theft and grand retail theft in Hillsborough County, Jacksonville, and Marion County.
Gailyard is a fugitive with a warrant for grand theft in St. Johns County.
Wright was already on 6-year probation when she was arrested with Jenkins and Gailyard.
All three currently remain in the Flagler County Jail.