VOLUSIA COUNTY, Fla. – Body camera video shows law enforcement smashing the windows of an SUV at a 7-Eleven in Holly Hill to arrest a man Saturday night who fled a couple of traffic stops, according to the Volusia Sheriff’s Office.
The incident began around 8:15 p.m. when the Bunnell Police Department tried to pull over Michael Anthony Pettit, who then drove off.
Volusia deputies spotted the vehicle traveling south on U.S. 1 and tried to pull it over, but the driver “refused to pull over.”
Officers from the Ormond Beach Police Department and Holly Hill Police Department joined the pursuit, with Ormond Beach police using stop sticks to get the car to stop.
Pettit then pulled into a 7-Eleven on Ridgewood Avenue and “refused to exit the vehicle,” deputies said. Sheriff’s officials said at one point he was seen “reaching for something in the vehicle.”
“Driver, we can see you reaching for things in the vehicle. Do not reach for anything, let us see your hands,” an officer is heard saying on bodycam video.
Deputies and Ormond Beach officers smashed the windows of the car and used pepperballs to get Pettit out of the vehicle.
“I had a headlight out, sir. And because I had a headlight out, he asked me to roll down my window,” Pettit can be heard on bodycam footage saying repeatedly.
A pair of pliers were found in the vehicle where Pettit was reaching, according to deputies.
Deputies said Pettit has a history of fleeing and other charges.
Pettit now faces charges of fleeing or attempting to elude law enforcement and resisting an officer without violence.