PALM COAST, Fla. – Two men are facing a list of charges after leading deputies on a cross-county chase Monday afternoon.
Investigators said Franklin Crawley and Christian Grasso, both 37, were seen speeding away from Volusia County deputies around 1:10 p.m. in Palm Coast. Flagler County deputies said the two were in a stolen vehicle driving down U.S. Highway 1 by County Road 13.
Volusia County deputies tried to deploy tire deflation devices, but Crawley and Grasso evaded them by making a left turn onto C.R. 13.
Deputies with the Flagler County Sheriff’s Office became involved in attempting to stop the stolen vehicle. One deputy positioned his patrol car with emergency lights to block the roadway.
The vehicle didn’t stop. The two suspects passed the patrol car on the grass shoulder, losing control and nearly colliding with other law enforcement officers.
The suspects managed to make it back out to C.R. 13 and eventually started heading northbound on U.S. Highway 1, according to an arrest report.
The Flagler County helicopter followed the vehicle from the sky, notifying deputies of the suspects’ whereabouts.
Deputies made another attempt to stop the suspects by deploying stop sticks by U.S. Highway 1 and Otis Stone Hunter Road. Crawley, who deputies say was the driver, failed to negotiate a turn from U.S. Highway 1 and Whiteview Parkway and crashed into the median.
Deputies said the Flagler County helicopter caught the suspects on video getting out of the car and run toward a neighborhood by Wood Ash Lane. Investigators say Crawley and Grasso were found not far from where they ditched the vehicle.
After a brief search, deputies found Crawley in the garage of a residence drinking a soda. Grasso was found trying to hide in a closed trailer that was parked on the same property, according to an arrest report.
Grasso now faces a resisting an officer without violence charge and one felony burglary charge. Crawley is charged with fleeing/eluding a police officer, burglary of a dwelling with using a vehicle as an instrument of damage and petit theft.