A man leapt from a stolen SUV as it was rolling away and then told deputies he was “looking for a Wi-Fi connection,” according to a Florida sheriff’s office.
Deputies began pursuing the stolen SUV in Daytona Beach Shores just before 2:30 p.m. May 10, according to the Volusia County Sheriff’s Office.
The driver jumped out of the vehicle and ran as the SUV continued to roll and crash into the wall of a building, according to a post on the sheriff’s office Facebook page.
Deputies and officers with the Daytona Beach Shores Department of Public Safety tracked the driver to a hotel room and found him with a loaded handgun in his pocket, the sheriff’s office said.
He told officers that his friends had left him in Miami, according to the post. He decided to hitchhike to Kissimmee, which is about 220 miles northwest of Miami, then steal a vehicle and drive into Volusia County “because he was looking for a Wi-Fi connection,” the sheriff’s office said. Daytona Beach Shores is about 85 miles northeast of Kissimmee.
Body camera footage shared by the sheriff’s office shows a deputy driving onto a beach before getting out of his vehicle and approaching the hotel room with his gun drawn. Deputies order the man onto the ground before handcuffing him and leading him to a patrol vehicle.
The man, who is 20, faces charges of “grand theft of a motor vehicle, fleeing or attempting to elude law enforcement, unlawful carrying of a concealed firearm, resisting an officer without violence, driving with a suspended/revoked license, leaving the scene of a crash with property damage, and loitering/prowling,” according to the sheriff’s office.
He is being held without bond, the sheriff’s office said.
Daytona Beach Shores is a coastal city just south of Daytona Beach and about 60 miles northeast of Orlando.