An 18-year-old man was arrested Tuesday after he attacked a trooper following a crash on State Road 528, the Florida Highway Patrol said.
Troopers said the crash happened on State Road 528 at mile marker 25.5 at around 5:45 a.m.
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The Florida Highway Patrol said a trooper was walking toward the crashed car when the driver came at the trooper.
Investigators said the man had something in his hands at the time, possibly a BB gun.
They said the trooper tried to take the man down, and the two got into a tussle.
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The man then got up and ran off into the woods with something in his hands, troopers said.
Troopers said they located the man off State Road 528 near Dallas Boulevard.
Jen Cepuder lives nearby and told Channel 9 that the man tried to steal her golf car.
“The dogs started barking like crazy,” she said. “I look out my window and there’s a guy on my golf cart driving away with it, trying to leave the property with my golf cart, which he couldn’t leave because I have my backpad locked and the front has a gate.”
The woman called police and helped officials close in on the man.
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A K-9 located the man, who was hiding under the bushes, and bit him.
The man was arrested by troopers and taken to a hospital for the dog bite. He was later identified as Audain Ruly Perez Vasquez, an undocumented immigrant who was deported in 2018.
He was also arrested in North Carolina for assault with a deadly weapon, FHP said.
He has been charged with battery on a law enforcement officer, resisting an officer with violence and other charges. He has been booked into the Orange County jail with no bond.
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Investigators also said they found two BB guns in the man’s car.
The trooper was taken to a hospital with minor injuries.
The Florida Highway Patrol says a trooper was attacked by a driver who had just crashed a car on S.R. 528 near the Dallas Toll Plaza. FHP says the trooper and man got into a tussle before the suspect ran into the woods. Still an active search. Trooper has minor injuries. @WFTV pic.twitter.com/Stpqytz0rD
— Christy Turner (@CTurnerWFTV) August 17, 2021
See a map of the scene below:
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