ORLANDO, Fla. – A Florida man is accused of shooting at officers before burning his house down during a dramatic takedown in Volusia County.
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The arrest of Dempsey Hadley ended a standoff that went on for hours and caused one deputy to get grazed by a bullet.
“I’ve seen a lot of crazy s*** in 36 years, but this was absolutely the craziest,” Volusia County Sheriff Mike Chitwood said.
Deputies said the whole thing started when Hadley allegedly stole cigarettes at a Wawa.
Law enforcement chased Hadley to his house in Deltona where he crashed into his garage, fired shots at deputies and started to light things on fire.
“The smoke is so thick [I thought] there’s no way he didn’t go down for smoke inhalation. And then all of a sudden out of nowhere he pops back out on the porch screaming, ‘the fight’s not over yet!’” Chitwood said.
When deputies finally got him into custody, Hadley told them that President Joe Biden would pardon him for his crimes.
The sheriff said his family told investigators that Hadley had been acting erratically for months.
Lawmakers take aim at red-light cameras
Red-light cameras are back in the spotlight in Tallahassee.
Two Republican lawmakers have filed a bill that would ban them statewide. It’s the latest attempt to repeal a law that was passed over a decade ago that allowed the use of red-light cameras in Florida.
The proposal would amend the Florida constitution to ban so-called traffic infraction detectors.
If passed by lawmakers, the measure would need 60% of voters to approve. The law would not apply to cameras in school speed zones.
The legislative session starts back up next month.
Gas prices spike after 2-year low
Just days after marking our lowest gas prices in two years, those numbers at the pump have shot back up.
On Sunday, Florida’s average was $2.86 a gallon.
Just four days later, that’s jumped over 20 cents to $3.07. A rise in oil prices is being blamed for the increase.
AAA was still expecting though that prices would stay low through the holidays.
Random Florida Fact
A 35-foot giant Cobra statue along US-1 south of Miami was once part of the Serpentarium, which closed in 1984.
Bill Haast opened the attraction almost 40 years earlier and became famous for surviving dozens of snake bites and experimenting with building up an immunity to the venom.
A smaller replica of the cobra statue was constructed for South Miami High School, but it was destroyed by Hurricane Andrew.
Haast died at the age of 100, not from a snake bite.
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