FLAGLER COUNTY, Fla. (WESH) – A woman who went on a first date with a man ended up in a chase after he took off during a traffic stop, officials said.
Flagler County sheriff’s deputies used stop sticks to disable a car that fled a traffic stop in Palm Coast about 2 a.m. Thursday.
Officials approached, only to discover the driver bailed out of the car into nearby woods and left the passenger to face the consequences.
On body camera, the woman could be heard telling authorities that the only thing the man said was that he didn’t have a license before taking off.
According to authorities, the woman had just met the Orlando-area man on a dating website and stopped at a Palm Coast Denny’s for dinner before heading back to her house.
When a deputy tried to stop the vehicle for a tag violation, the date told the woman he’d go to jail, so instead he fled, officials said.
Authorities said the man was driving erratically and over the speed limit. The woman told officials she was scared and didn’t know his last name.
Deputies said the same woman whose date went wrong on Thursday was the victim in a different and violent incident also involving a man last month.
During that incident, a man the woman was seeing, but attempted to get away from at a Bunnell store, threw himself on her vehicle, shattered her windshield then attacked her when she got out, officials said.
The woman was then knocked unconscious.
In Thursday’s incident, the man did not hurt the victim but disappeared into nearby woods.
Investigators think he was running from more than just a suspended license and believe he could be hiding more in his criminal background.
The man has not been caught.
