VIDEO: Man Arrested After Reckless Drive Through Flagler

Palm Coast, FL – Deputies wanted to pull him over for not wearing a seatbelt, but a 24-year-old male makes matters worse after he runs from law enforcement and crashes into a semi-truck on I-95. The Flagler County Sheriff’s Office (FCSO) says a deputy first spotted the blue Toyota Camry—a rental car—operated by Chauncey McCray as it was traveling southbound on US-1 around 1:00 Thursday afternoon (March 11th). As they were driving, McCray, who was driving parallel to the deputy, leaned over to look at the deputy, which is when they noticed he wasn’t wearing a seatbelt. That’s when the deputy initiated a traffic stop on McCray’s vehicle. But before he came to a complete stop, McCray took off at a high rate of speed and fled the traffic stop. As he approached Belle Terre Boulevard, McCray left the roadway and drove into a yard on Kankakee Trail. The vehicle then launched through the swale and across the driveway, nearly striking the homeowner in the driveway. From there, McCray continued southbound. The deputy turned off his lights and siren and followed McCray from a distance as he continued to drive recklessly through Palm Coast. At some point, the Flagler County FireFlight helicopter was called in to monitor McCray from the air. Deputies also attempted to deploy a tire deflation device on eastbound State Road 100 (SR 100), but McCray attempted to avoid the device which caused the vehicle to strike a driveway, sending it airborne before continuing eastbound through Seminole Woods. After that, deputies believed that the vehicle was heavily damaged due to an oil spill after going airborne. In a release, FCSO also notes that McCray called his sister and told her he was running from the cops. The sister then called FCSO to report the call from her brother. McCray was soon found again as deputies spotted him swerving in and out of traffic southbound on I-95, just a mile north of Exit 273 for US-1 in Ormond Beach. As he was weaving through traffic, McCray struck a semi-truck and lost control just before hitting a guardrail. As a result, the vehicle was disabled and deputies were able to make contact with McCray. He was transported to the hospital for treatment of his injuries. A search of his car, according to deputies, yielded a firearm, 9 grams of cocaine, 4.76 grams of fentanyl, 11.62 grams of oxymorphone, 13 buprenorphine orange tablets, 2 grams of cannabis, 2 digital scales, and various other narcotics paraphernalia. “This is a guy that is well known to our deputies from his past criminal activity,” Flagler Sheriff Rick Staly said. “He drove recklessly all over town endangering countless people just to avoid what started out as a seatbelt violation. Our deputies did a great job safely keeping eyes on him and ultimately taking him into custody. I hope the car renter purchased the insurance option!” McCray’s crash was also one of two that caused major traffic problems in Ormond Beach throughout most of the afternoon.