ST. JOHNS COUNTY, Fla. – New video shows the moments St. Johns County deputies apprehended a 62-year-old man seen waving and firing his gun outside the window of a red pickup while driving along Interstate 95.
On Monday morning, law enforcement officials were inundated with calls about the man, who was later identified as Samuel O’Neal Gardner pointing a gun at vehicles on the highway.
According to St. John’s County Sheriff’s Office, deputies tried to stop the man but he fled while pointing the gun at several law enforcement officers.
Gardner crashed in a wooded area south of State Road 16.
A driver who shared multiple videos of what happened next said he saw Gardner fly past his car with several deputies tailing behind him.
“It was a truck driving next to me at about a high rate of speed of about 100 miles an hour, swerving like towards me, and I jumped over to the far right lane,” the driver told News4JAX.
One video showed the deputies working to remove Gardner from the overturned truck.
“The suspect wouldn’t get out of the car. You could hear the police officers tell them to get out,” the man said.
He said it took deputies at least five minutes to remove Gardner from the vehicle.
News4JAX Crime and Safety Analyst was shocked when he watched the video, calling Gardner’s behavior reckless.
“This is the kind of thing that you just never know, what that person in the other car, what their mental status is, where their head space is, or what they’re armed with,” Hackney said. “At least this person is kind of giving you the heads up that I am armed, but that’s the kind of person that’s really scary, because you just don’t know what they are capable of.”
Gardner was airlifted to the hospital with serious injuries.
He is expected to face charges.
The SJSO is investigating to determine what led to the incident. If you have any videos or photos, investigators ask that you share them here.
