A Florida woman stole a sheriff’s deputy’s patrol car and then led authorities on a high-speed chase before crashing into traffic head-on — killing herself and two others on Thursday.
“This idiot stole a police vehicle and killed two people,” Marion County Sheriff Billy Woods told reporters at a news conference Friday.
Deputies responded to a “suspicious incident” involving a woman – later identified as Kendra Boone, 33 – who reportedly tried to take an elderly woman’s keys at a shopping center in Silver Springs, according to the Marion County Sheriff’s Office.
Deputy Chris Witte responded to the scene in his patrol SUV around 2 p.m. and ordered Boone, who was approaching his car, to head to the back of his vehicle as he stepped out for a moment, the sheriff said.
But Boone instead jumped into the deputy’s vehicle — which was running with the key in the ignition — through the open passenger side window and slid behind the wheel within seconds, body camera video shows.
Florida woman Kendra Boone stole a police cruiser and crashed it into traffic, killing herself and two others. Marion County Sheriff’s Office
Witte yelled at him to stop as he began to drive away in his patrol car. He chased after the car and opened the driver’s side door, trying to pull her out but she hit the gas and sped out of the mall parking lot, according to the shocking clip.
Boone fled in the stolen sheriff’s vehicle eastbound on East 40 Freeway for several miles as more deputies arrived and chased him, Woods said.
He was traveling “over 100 miles per hour” and “driving erratically” as he tried to elude deputies, the sheriff said.
Boone jumped into the deputy’s vehicle, through the open passenger-side window and slid behind the wheel within seconds, body camera video showed. Marion County Sheriff’s Office
Boone moved onto the right shoulder while trying to pass a semi truck on the freeway during the chase. When he merged back onto the road, he lost control and crossed the double yellow line into oncoming traffic.
He then collided with a black pickup truck, Woods said.
Boone and the pickup’s three occupants were unresponsive when deputies arrived at the wreckage.
Boone drove the police cruiser several miles along the highway as more and more deputies arrived to chase him. CBS Miami
Boone and two of the truck’s passengers – a 73-year-old male driver and a 72-year-old female passenger from Waterloo, South Carolina – were pronounced dead at the scene. A third person was rushed to a local hospital in critical condition, according to the sheriff’s office.
Woods said he and his deputy were in “pure panic” when they learned that a patrol car had been stolen.
“We know what is in the vehicle. There are long guns there,” he said. “When he does that, he’s a threat to human life — a threat for just getting in that car. Think about that for a second. What do people think when they see a blue light coming down the road? They think it’s a good person — not a hole like this .”
Boone was traveling “over 100 miles per hour” and “driving erratically” before he crashed into the car. CBS Miami
The car thief had recently been released from prison and had a long criminal history – which Woods dramatically illustrated at the press conference by holding up dozens of pieces of paper containing an apparent rap sheet.
Boone has 13 felony charges and nine misdemeanor charges on his record – of which he was convicted of two misdemeanors, according to the sheriff.
In addition to several arrests around Florida, Boone was arrested three times in Marion County between 2020 and 2021.
He was convicted in Marion County on his last arrest and sentenced in 2022 to two years.
Boone was also convicted in a separate class in Orange County — but instead of ordering his sentence to begin after he completes the two-year sentence handed down in Marion County, a judge made the sentences concurrent — meaning he was given 30 months with credit for time served on the other convictions. according to Woods.
If the sentences were consecutive, Boone would still be serving time. He was released from prison in the past few weeks, according to local outlet 352 Today.
“If this person is in prison, I won’t have two innocent people,” Woods said. “He, I don’t care.”
The outspoken sheriff made it clear that he placed zero blame on the deputy whose vehicle was stolen.
“My deputy did absolutely nothing wrong,” he said, adding that the policy of letting patrol vehicles run “doesn’t mean s–t” when asked by a reporter.
Categories: Trending
Source: thtrangdai.edu.vn/en/
