ORANGE COUNTY, Fla. – A man who allegedly stole a semitruck caused an hourslong standoff at a Veterans Affairs hospital in Orlando’s Lake Nona neighborhood.
Multiple deputies surrounded the medical campus located at 13849 Veterans Way on Monday night.
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The sheriff’s office said it received a call around 6:25 p.m. saying that a man who stole a semi-truck, without a trailer, had hit several vehicles in Lake County and was heading into Orange County.
Deputies have identified the man as Edward James Dial, 45, of Citrus Spring.
The sheriff’s office helicopter followed the truck until it parked at the entrance gate to the hospital, according to a news release. Once parked, Dial refused to get out of the vehicle for several hours, and made obscene gestures at deputies, according to the arrest affidavit.
Deputies said they eventually used a chemical agent to get Dial out of the truck and arrested him without incident around midnight.
Ricky Padilla, who was at the hospital visiting his father, said he was stuck on the property for about two hours.
“We still did not have any idea what was going on,” Padilla said. “I drove back a little bit just to take a peek to see if anyone had left yet because we were all the way in the back and the cops were there and at that point, you heard ‘come out with your hands up.’”
According to the arrest affidavit, the truck was registered as stolen out of Gwinnett County, Georgia. Deputies say Dial changed his story about the truck at least twice, saying the truck belonged to him, then saying he got it from someone else. He also told deputies that he was living in the truck.
Dial is facing a charge of grand theft third degree-motor vehicle. He also was served an out-of-county warrant for fleeing or attempting to elude law enforcement and leaving the scene of a crash with property damage, deputies said.
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