ORANGE COUNTY, Fla. – A traffic stop along the Florida Turnpike on Tuesday morning ended with six passengers running away, according to the Florida Highway Patrol.
In a release, an FHP spokeswoman said the incident happened at mile marker 267 in Ocoee after 7 a.m., when a trooper spotted a pickup truck pulling a trailer.
However, the trailer’s tags were being held by strings, which were hanging out and covering up the tag, an incident report reveals.
“As the vehicle approached the exit ramp to State Road 408, the vehicle made a lane change in front of my vehicle, interfering with the operation of my vehicle and causing me to apply my breaks,” the report reads.
The trooper was also able to spot four people in the truck’s back seat. Due to all of the violations, the trooper said he turned on his lights and tried to pull the truck over.
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The driver was slow to pull over, though, causing the trooper to get in the truck’s way to force it to do so, the report says.
“Immediately after the vehicle stopped, all the passengers of the vehicle began fleeing the stop,” the report continues.
According to the release, all six passengers were ultimately located, and three were placed under arrest on charges of resisting. They are identified as follows:
- Eduardo Chub Choc
- Amino Oliver Lopez Perez
- Cristian David Choc Chub
Meanwhile, the driver — identified as 23-year-old Diego Gamez — remained in the vehicle, troopers said.
Four of the passengers were also turned over to Border Patrol, troopers added.
Troopers said they also ran a query on the truck’s tag, finding that the same vehicle was stopped by troopers on Interstate 4 last year. During that incident, multiple people reportedly bailed out and ran from the stop.
Similarly, a traffic stop in February saw eight occupants and the driver being arrested for a warrant, the incident report states.
“Due to all the information gathered, I believe the driver and owner of the vehicle, Diego Eduardo Ventura Gamez... was purposely attempting to avoid pulling over on the overpass to find a place for the passenger of the vehicle to flee the stop,” a trooper wrote.
No additional information has been provided at this time.