Florida man leads cops on hi-speed chase, throws infant at deputy in failed getaway attempt
On June 4, the Indian River County Sheriff’s Office headquartered in Vero Beach, Florida, shared the tale of a man they were pursuing through the Gifford community who was eventually captured and who is now facing two felony counts of aggravated child abuse – after he threw a two-month-old infant at a deputy.
The pursuit, and the man’s subsequent arrest, occurred around 6:30 p.m. May 26, 2021. The man, now identified as John Henry James III, 32, is also looking at several additional felony charges including aggravated battery on an officer/firefighter/EMT, battery on the same, reckless driving, and resisting arrest with violence.
“You can’t throw a baby at us and expect us to treat you with kid gloves,” Sheriff Eric Flowers said, following the incident.
Much of the pursuit and James’ apprehension was captured on deputies’ patrol dash cameras as well as the IRCSO helicopter – commonly referred to as HAWK.
After approximately 40 minutes of driving recklessly through the Gifford community, James drove into the Taylor Pointe Apartments, where he was boxed in. As he bailed out of his car, he grabbed the two-month-old boy who had been in the car with him and threw the child in the direction of a deputy.
“I couldn’t chase him, I couldn’t tackle him, not a whole lot I can do because he had the baby,” Deputy Jacob Curby said.
“He just turned around, no regard, not a little toss or anything, he just turned around, overhand threw this two-month-old at me from about 6 feet away.” ~ New York Post
That deputy successfully caught the child and was able to relocate the baby to safety. The Department of Children and Families was notified and is handling that portion of the case.
The incident started on State Road 60 in Vero Beach when local law enforcement attempted a traffic stop for failure to maintain the lane. But instead of stopping for the deputies, James drove off.
A deputy spotted a Nissan Rogue driving erratically along 20th Street [SR 60], near I-95.
The sheriff’s office said Vice units tried to pull the driver over, but the driver ignored the sirens and kept driving toward Gifford. ~ ABC 3 WEAR-TV
During the course of the pursuit, James struck the front end of a detective’s vehicle. He also dodged roadblocks and at least one attempted stop-stick deployment. He ran over another set of stop-sticks, but they failed to disable the vehicle.
Due to the number of people in the residential area, the call was made for deputies to stand down and turn off their lights and sirens. HAWK relayed the driver’s location and they continued to follow James, ultimately to the Taylor Pointe Apartments.
After James bailed out of his car and threw the infant, he fled on foot through the trees and between buildings. Deputies pursued on foot and were able to take James to the ground, where he continued to resist. He kicked and bit at deputies and struggled when being loaded into the back of a deputy’s cruiser.
A large group of residents gathered around the deputies, forcing a call back to headquarters for backup to assist in crowd control.
Once in the car, James complained he could not breathe and told the deputy he has asthma. For everyone’s safety, the deputy drove James to nearby Fire Station 12 where the EMTs could check him out. He continued resisting, even while being placed on the stretcher to be loaded into an ambulance to go Cleveland Clinic Indian River Medical Center.
James was medically cleared from the hospital on June 1 after being treated for a pre-existing condition and was booked into the Indian River County Jail. The baby-thrower is currently being held without bond.
See the police chase, James hurling the baby at deputies, and James’ eventual take-down in the video below.
(Source: IRCSO)
Posted by Richard Webster, Ace News Today / Follow Richard on Facebook and Twitter
