Cops: Man With Badge, Gun Tried Pulling Over Florida Drivers
NAPLES, Fla. (AP) — A man is charged with impersonating a law enforcement officer after authorities said he tried pulling drivers over on section of Florida highway known as Alligator Alley.
The Florida Highway Patrol says it received a call from a motorist Sunday who said a man in a black Toyota with dark tinted windows pulled alongside the driver’s car on Interstate 75, flashed a badge and motioned the driver to pull over.
Troopers were told the man also tried pulling over other cars. They stopped 61-year-old Lloyd Chang 24 miles down the road. He had a concealed weapons permit badge around his neck and a handgun in his backseat.
Chang is charged with a third degree felony and was being held at the Collier County jail. It wasn’t immediately known if he has a lawyer.
2 Die In Separate Interstate Crashes In South Florida
MIAMI (AP) — Two people have died over the long Labor Day weekend in separate crashes on interstates in Florida.
Law enforcement authorities tell local news outlets that 22-year-old Robert Andrade was killed Sunday when a car he was traveling in plunged off an entry ramp to Interstate 75 in South Florida. His body was thrown from the car and landed in 10 feet of water in a nearby retention pond.
Miramar police spokeswoman Tania Rues says the car had fled from police shortly before the crash. Andrade’s body was found hours later.
In a separate incident, authorities say a vehicle traveling on Interstate 95 near hit two other vehicles before bursting into flames Fort Lauderdale early Sunday. The driver of that car died.
The name of that driver hasn’t been released.
Florida Carjacking Suspect Pistol-Whipped 74-Year-Old Woman
ORLANDO, Fla. (AP) — A Florida man is accused of carjacking and pistol-whipping a 74-year-old woman who offered to give him a ride from a home improvement store.
Orange County Sheriff’s spokeswoman Jane Watrel tells local news outlets that the man had tried to carjack an 82-year-old woman at gunpoint in the same Home Depot parking lot moment earlier on Sunday afternoon. She refused to give him her keys and he ran.
Once inside the other woman’s minivan, he pistol whipped her and forced her out of the vehicle.
A deputy spotted the van and after a short pursuit, used a tactical maneuver to disable it. Watrel says the man is expected to face carjacking charges.
The carjacking victim was taken to a hospital with injuries not considered life-threatening.