EUSTIS, Fla.—A Eustis Police Department road patrol sergeant is OK after a suspect slammed into his marked patrol truck while he was at a stop sign early Sunday morning.
An EPD road patrol officer was patrolling the area of Center Street and Orange Avenue at 12:50 a.m. Sunday when he spotted a white Ford speeding and driving recklessly eastbound on Orange Avenue, according to an arrest affidavit. The officer notified his sergeant, L. Arnold, the vehicle was traveling toward Abrams Road and the officer lost sight of it around Glover Street, according to an arrest affidavit.
Arnold was traveling on Abrams Road and after he stopped at the stop sign at Abrams Road and Orange Avenue, also known as State Road 44, the white Ford made a sharp turn onto Abrams Road and slammed into the left front fender of his truck, causing Arnold’s head to smack against the driver’s side window and shatter it, EPD Chief Craig Capri told Inside Lake.
The window of EPD Sgt. L. Arnold’s truck after his head shattered it when a car slammed into him at a stop sign early Sunday. The crash also damaged the left, front fender of the truck. PHOTOS: Eustis Police Department
Arnold called out on the radio he had been involved in a crash, exited his patrol truck and drew his firearm because he did not know if the driver struck him intentionally, the affidavit states. The driver, identified as Davonta Carter, 29, of Mount Dora, then got out of the vehicle and began running westbound on Orange Avenue.
Arnold gave chase and the first officer who spotted Carter speeding, pulled up and began chasing Carter at gunpoint too. After several commands to “stop,” Carter laid down in the middle of Orange Avenue and surrendered, the affidavit states. He was placed in the back of a patrol car that was parked in the middle of Orange Avenue and the officer moved the car to a nearby gas station.
Carter, covered in sweat, requested EMS to check him out, Lake EMS responded, and Carter refused transport; his passenger, Miavohni Wright, 23, of York, Penn., was transported to AdventHealth Waterman in Tavares with non-life-threatening injuries. Officers searched the vehicle and found a black and white Adidas bag with a 9mm handgun, two plastic bags containing crack cocaine and a bag of marijuana.
Carter was arrested for leaving the scene of a crash with injuries, driving while license suspended, reckless driving, possession of a firearm by a convicted felon, possession of a controlled substance, driving while license suspended and resisting without violence. He was transported to the Lake County Jail, where staff advised he needed to be checked out by the hospital before being booked, due to being involved in a crash. He was transported to AdventHealth Waterman, where he was medically cleared, and transported back to LCJ, where he is being held on $41,000 bond.
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