A West Palm Beach man led Florida Highway Patrol on a chase on Interstate-95 after the trooper initially stopped the man for speeding and found drugs in his car.
Richard Falcon (Indian River County Jail)
At 2:45 p.m. Friday, a sergeant with Florida Highway Patrol pulled over Richard Daniel Falcon, 32, for speeding just north of Vero Beach. The sergeant noticed there were drugs in the car and attempted to arrest Falcon, but the West Palm Beach man pushed the trooper off, got back in his car and sped northbound.
The sergeant followed the 2016 Jeep Cherokee when it exited off Fellsmere Road and crashed into trees nearby, according to FHP. After the driver left his car and fled the area, Fellsmere Police, Indian River Sheriff’s Office and others set up a perimeter and captured Falcon.
Falcon faces charges of unlawful speed, battery on a law enforcement officer, hit and run, possession of marijuana and trafficking heroin, according to Indian River County Jail.
He is being held on $312,000 bail, according to records.
He was arrested in 2014 for possession of marijuana and resisting an officer, but the charges were never filed, according to Palm Beach County court records. He does have several traffic citations for speeding, according to records.
