PUTNAM COUNTY, Fla. – A man who is accused of trying to speed away from Putnam County deputies before he crashed into a utility pole was arrested early Monday morning on drug and gun charges.
According to the Putnam County Sheriff’s Office, the 27-year-old Palatka man was first seen in an SUV on Gillis Street driving slowly with his lights off. When deputies tried to pull him over, he sped off, deputies said.
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The man reached speeds of 100 mph, deputies said, before he crashed into the concrete pole in front of ABC Liquor near Highway 17 and State Road 100.
The man then ran away from the SUV, and according to deputies, he briefly had an AR-15-style rifle in his hands as he ran toward the back of the liquor store.
A deputy said he drove across the parking lot while the man ran away and continued to yell at the man to get on the ground, according to an arrest report.
“As I got closer to the subject, I was able to utilize my TASER out of the window of my patrol car and effectively strike the subject with the probes of the cartridge in the back and leg area. The subject stumbled and fell and as I exited my vehicle to take him into custody, he jumped back to his feet to continue running. At this point I immediately tackled him to the ground,” the deputy wrote.
The man was arrested and taken to a local hospital to get checked out for his injuries.
He now faces several charges, including fleeing police, use or display of a firearm during a felony and misdemeanor charges of resisting an officer without violence, drug equipment possession and marijuana distribution.
