COCOA, Fla. – A 20-year-old Brevard County man was arrested Saturday after Cocoa police said he tried multiple times to ram one of their officers.
The Cocoa Police Department on Monday released body camera video of the incident that shows the suspect, Arthur Egendoerfer, of Merritt Island, try to run into Officer Luis Hernandez’s patrol car, eventually hitting him.
The officer was trying to pull over Egendoerfer after he pulled out of the 7-Eleven on State Route 524 without his headlights on, according to the police report. Hernandez also wrote in the report Egendoerfer failed to obey a traffic signal and was speeding.
“Based on my training and field experience, I knew that it was common for a person to drive in that manner after they had committed a crime,” Hernandez wrote in the police report.
The video shows Hernandez following the suspect on Grissom Parkway and putting his lights on to pull the vehicle over. Egendoerfer was going about 70 mph, in a 40 mph zone, according to the report.
Body camera video shows the driver pulled to the side of the road and as the officer went to step out of his car and speak to him, the driver yelled.
“Hey, tell me what did I do? I’m a Domino’s driver. What the f—did I do? You’re harassing me. Go the f—home, like I am,” Egendoerfer said to Hernandez.
Egendoerfer then sped off in his Hyundai Accent and the officer followed the suspect into Canaveral Groves.
"Just be careful back there. Keep an eye on your GPS unit. I don’t want you to get boxed in back there,” dispatch told Hernandez.
Egendoerfer turned his lights off and pulled onto Citrus Boulevard. When the cruiser pulled around the corner the Hyundai’s lights came back and the suspect made a U-turn almost hitting the police cruiser.
“He purposely turned his lights off then came at me,” the officer said.
The driver then turned around again and tried to hit the cruiser for a second time, Hernandez said.
“He’s coming back. He’s coming back, He’s gonna hit me, He’s gonna hit me,” Hernandez said.
Hurnandez pursued the suspect's vehicle, after receiving permission to do so from his supervisors, according to the report.
Coming up on Tangerine Road, the driver pulled over and backs up trying to hit the cruiser, the officer said. The officer backed up as the suspect continued to back up.
For a final time, Egendoerfer made a U-turn and rammed the front end of the police cruiser. Hernandez wrote in his report that over the course of the police chase Egendoerfer attempted to hit him with his car five times.
“He just rammed my car,” the officer said right before hopping out of the cruiser and arresting the shirtless man.
Police said Egendoerfer was hit with a stun gun before he was placed into custody. The suspect was taken to Wuesthoff Hospital to have one of the probes removed from his chest, according to the report.
“Listen, I didn’t like you harassing me, you understand?” the suspect said, after being placed in handcuffs.
Egendoerfer is charged with assaulting a police officer and with two counts of eluding a police officer. He was also given five traffic citations.