PALM COAST, FL – The Flagler County Sheriff’s Office (FCSO) received a call from the Florida Highway Patrol (FHP) on January 14 at 2:33 a.m. regarding a tan Ford Explorer with an Alabama tag driving recklessly on Interstate 95 Southbound in Flagler County. According to authorities, the same vehicle had previously been in St. Johns County and narrowly missed running into a St. Johns County Sheriff’s Office (SJCSO) deputy.
FCSO deputies attempted a traffic stop but the vehicle failed to stop and fled from deputies. Tire deflation devices were used just south of mile marker 284 on I-95 which successfully deflated the vehicle’s tires. The vehicle continued to flee and deputies followed at a safe distance until mile marker 281 where it crashed.
Deputies witnessed the driver, a black male wearing a purple shirt, flee on foot from the crash site and into the woods. The Volusia County Sheriff’s Office (VCSO) assisted with providing a K-9 handler and partner to assist with the search for the suspect.
A perimeter was established by FCSO deputies and FHP officers. Deputies holding the perimeter near Seoane Place in Palm Coast noticed movement near a water retention ditch. The driver of the vehicle was seen and given verbal commands to surrender at which time he ran back into the woods. A short time later, FCSO deputies located the suspect on Senor Place in Palm Coast and took him into custody.
The man was identified as 23-year-old Henry L. Davis. It was determined that Davis did not have a Florida driver’s license and has never been issued one. Davis is a convicted felon who had recently served time in prison for a robbery conviction in Palm Beach County.
“A convicted felon with a gun and fleeing from law enforcement is a recipe for disaster,” Sheriff Rick Staly said. “This guy’s joy ride tied up resources from four separate agencies, and all he did was go to jail tired. There is no way to tell what we prevented from occurring to potential victims. Our advice to criminals is not to run and hide, because we will find you! Now let’s hope he goes back to prison where he came from.”
Inside the vehicle Davis was driving deputies located a loaded firearm. Davis was arrested and charged with possession of a firearm by a convicted felon, possession of ammunition by a convicted felon, resisting arrest, fleeing or eluding law enforcement, driving without a license, and leaving the scene of a crash with property damage. He was booked into the Sheriff Perry Hall Inmate Detention Facility where he is being held on a $13,000.00 bond.
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