VOLUSIA COUNTY, Fla. – A man accused of armed carjacking in South Florida was taken down thanks in part to an award-winning K-9 that helped track him down as he tried to flee, according to the Volusia County Sheriff's Office.
Deputies said they received an alert Monday from a license plate reader that a Land Rover stolen during an armed carjacking in North Miami was in Orange City.
A deputy tried to conduct a traffic stop, but the vehicle fled, according to the report.
Video from the Volusia County Sheriff's Office helicopter unit shows the Land Rover running a red light and speeding on Interstate 4 before exiting onto State Road 436 in Seminole County.
Deputies said they found the vehicle abandoned at an apartment complex on Douglas Avenue. Witnesses told them a man in a white tank top and a woman in a black sports bra ran from the vehicle, the affidavit said.
Volusia County K-9 Endo, who was honored with a Purple Heart in 2016 after being shot in the line of duty, was brought to the scene to track down the vehicle's occupants.
Video shows the German shepherd leading a deputy through a wooded area and locating two of the man's sandals before approaching a dumpster.
Behind the dumpster, deputies said they found Jamie Snell and a woman, who both matched the descriptions witnesses provided.
Snell and the woman at first denied being in the stolen Land Rover and said they were just behind the dumpster to have sex, but they both eventually admitted to their involvement, according to the report.
The woman said Snell picked her up in the Land Rover to drive her to a job interview and wanted to stay in the vehicle when they parked it the apartment complex, but she was afraid she would go to jail too, the affidavit said.
Snell was arrested on charges of grand theft auto, fleeing and attempting to elude and resisting an officer without violence.
Details about the armed carjacking in North Miami were not immediately available.