ST. JOHNS COUNTY, Fla. — A 16-year-old Virginia boy accused of threatening officers in Orlando was taken into custody along Interstate 95 in St. Johns County on Wednesday afternoon, according to the Florida Highway Patrol.
The teen, whom Action News Jax is not identifying, was driving his parents’ vehicle that he had stolen when FHP conducted a PIT maneuver near the International Golf Parkway exit to stop him.
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The Orlando Police Department said it all started on March 1, when the teen began communicating with a 13-year-old girl who lived in Orlando.
The girl’s parents contacted officers in Orlando after the 16-year-old allegedly sent their daughter pornographic material.
Detectives contacted the 16-year-old’s parents in Virginia as part of the investigation.
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Police said this was when the boy “called the Orlando Police Department’s Emergency Community Center and made a series of threats,” Orlando police said in a news release.
He later “contacted the Orlando Police Department and left a voicemail threatening to kill one of the detectives working the case,” the OPD said.
In one of the threats, the teen could be heard saying, “I’m going to come down there and kill all of you, be afraid ... I will end your life, could be within a week, could be within several years.”
Orlando police reached out to the Newport News Police Department in Virginia and officers there informed Orlando officers that the teen had stolen his parents’ car, a a gray 2018 Ford Escape, and withdrew cash from an ATM with the intention to drive to Orlando.
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OPD enlisted the help of the FBI, FHP and the U.S. Marshals, and a “be on the lookout” notice was issued for the teen and the car.
On Wednesday, an FHP trooper patrolling on I-95 near State Road 9B spotted a vehicle matching the description of the one the teen was driving, according to an FHP arrest report.
The trooper started following the teen while waiting for backup. The Ford then made a lane change to the far right, appearing to exit I-95 onto County Road 210. The trooper then activated lights and sirens and the Ford sped up and changed lanes to the far left.
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The trooper then initiated a pursuit, the report said. The teen driver was flipping the trooper off through the back window and was driving “at speeds of 100 miles per hour making multiple lane changes, narrowly missing colliding with other vehicles on the roadway,” the report said.
Once traffic slowed, the trooper conducted a PIT maneuver, forcing the Ford from the left lane into the grassy median so that other motorists would not be impacted.
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Dash-cam video from FHP shows the trooper ordering the teen out of the vehicle at gunpoint. The teen got out of the car, laid down on the ground and was handcuffed.
According to the arrest report, the teen said, “Yeah I stole that vehicle last night,” while he was sitting in the back of the patrol car.
After being medically cleared, he was taken to the St. Johns County Jail to be interviewed by Orlando detectives.
This is a developing story. Action News Jax’s Ben Ryan will have the very latest updates on CBS47 and FOX30 Action News Jax at 4.
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