A Florida man was arrested after he kidnapped his girlfriend’s 1-year-old boy and led officers on a chase earlier than he used the child as a human shield outdoors a McDonald’s final week, authorities mentioned.
The Flagler County Sheriff’s Office responded to a house on Bunker Lane in Palm Coast, about 60 miles south of Jacksonville, on the night of Sept. 27 about a report of a doable child abduction, it mentioned in a news release.
Brandon Leohner, 27, the boyfriend of the child’s mom, kidnapped the 1-year-old “while armed with a handgun and was driving with the child in his lap as he left the residence,” the sheriff’s workplace mentioned.
Deputies tried to drag Leohner over after he drove recklessly by means of medians and sped on Belle Terre Parkway, the sheriff’s workplace mentioned. He didn’t comply and as a substitute fled east onto State Road 100, driving by means of oncoming site visitors, earlier than he become a McDonald’s car parking zone in a buying middle, it mentioned.
Leohner acquired out of his automobile close to the McDonald’s drive-thru with the 1-year-old in his arms, utilizing the child as a human shield and refusing to take heed to instructions to place the child down, authorities mentioned.
After a transient standoff, deputies used a Taser on Leohner and rescued the child, they mentioned. Leohner tried to flee and resist arrest, however a Ok-9 canine and a Taser introduced him below management, and he was positioned in handcuffs, the sheriff’s workplace mentioned.
“Here is a case of a domestic situation turning violent, putting a 1-year-old child and innocent drivers in danger,” Flagler County Sheriff Rick Staly mentioned in a assertion. “Fortunately, the child was not hurt and was quickly reunited with his mother.”
Leohner was arrested and charged with kidnapping, utilizing a minor as a shield, resisting with violence, child neglect, fleeing and eluding, and reckless driving. He was taken to a medical middle to be handled for his wounds Sunday morning and booked at the Sheriff Perry Hall Inmate Detention Facility, the place he stays on $61,000 bond, sheriff’s spokesperson Messod Bendayan informed NBC News.
It was unclear Tuesday whether or not Leohner has an legal professional.