Man Beaten, Kidnapped After Getting In Way Of Illegal Street Race

A young man was beaten unconscious and then kidnapped for getting in the way of an illegal street race and damaging some expensive race cars.

The area where deputies say the street races happened is a long, isolated, two lane road near CR-535 (see map). The sheriff's office believes video found online was shot during the early hours of Sunday morning by a witness of the races and the beating.

Investigators said the 20-year-old man came to the races to help a friend with his car and that he parked his pickup along the side of the road as one of the races started. That's when one of the race cars clipped the victim's pickup, causing an accident. That's also when things turned very ugly.

Investigators said the victim was beaten and then loaded into his own pickup, quite literally kidnapped, with the suspects demanding that he pay for the damage to one of the cars in the street race, otherwise they'd hurt him and his family.

The victim was able to call 911 during the ride and deputies pulled the vehicle over. Three suspects are now jailed facing multiple charges.