JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – A man wanted on a murder charge in Jamaica dragged a Florida Highway Patrol trooper with his car when he tried to flee a traffic stop in Jacksonville on March 31, authorities said.
U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement and FHP said they conducted a targeted vehicle stop on a white Dodge Caravan that led to the arrest of Ragar Mandela Allen, whom ICE identified as a Jamaican national and a member of the Craig Town gang. ICE said Allen was wanted in Jamaica on a murder charge.
Troopers stopped the car on Oakhurst Avenue near Tennessee and Tallahassee avenues after one window appeared heavily obscured, the arrest report said.
The report says Allen spoke in Creole and broken English, became irate when asked for his driver’s license and accelerated the vehicle while a trooper was at the driver’s door. The trooper became trapped in the window and was dragged as the van sped toward oncoming traffic, then ran off the road and crashed into a fence and a tree, according to the report.
The trooper suffered nonincapacitating injuries and was taken to UF Health Jacksonville for treatment, the report said.
ICE agents who were on scene helped detain Allen. Officers found a Glock 43X pistol on his person; a JSO query confirmed the gun had been reported stolen, the report said. Immigration officials turned the weapon over to the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives for evidence. Officers also found marijuana hidden in a cigarette pack, drug paraphernalia and a fictitious New Jersey driver’s license, and said Allen had no valid driver’s license in any state.
Allen was booked into the Duval County Jail on multiple charges, including attempted murder of a person other than the perpetrator engaged in resisting an officer with violence, aggravated battery on a law enforcement officer, aggravated fleeing and eluding after a crash, resisting an officer with violence, theft of a firearm, possession of less than 20 grams of marijuana and possession of drug paraphernalia, according to the arrest report. The report also states Allen entered the United States illegally.
A public defender was appointed and a first appearance was scheduled for April 22, court records show.