Just when you think you’ve seen every crazy variation of the “Florida Man” story, another one comes along to raise the stakes of absurdity.
Personally, I can’t get enough of the Florida Man stories. They are a dime-a-dozen, and somehow, there’s always a steady stream of Florida Man (and Florida Woman) stories coming out of the southern state. If you are in need of some “Sunshine State” examples, may I direct you to some of the head scratching stories below that are exported solely from Florida:
-Florida Man Steals Ambulance & Refuses To Exit Until He’s Finished His Beer
-Florida Man Arrested For Shooting Down Walmart Delivery Drone
-Florida Man Uses Python To Play Tug-Of-War With Crocodile
-Florida Man Catches Wild Boar With His Bare Hands
If you think all of those sound crazy, just wait until you hear the story of how 39-year-old Florida Man Richard Christopher Smith of Miami was arrested.
This past Saturday, around 3 o’clock in the afternoon, police responded to a call from a local market that someone had stolen multiple items from the store, including a number of alcoholic beverages. And the Florida Man wasn’t exactly trying to make a swift get away.
The person from the market who called the police told them that the man was driving a black minivan… and was driving that vehicle in circles around the store. Talk about a smooth criminal. Nothing like doing a couple of laps around the place you just robbed.
When the authorities arrived at the market, the Florida man sped away from the scene, and the police closely followed behind in what became a high speed chase. Miles away from the market, the man now identified as Richard Smith pulled into the parking lot of a business at the Sebring Airport.
“I was just going to give you a drink, that’s it.”
With the drink still in hand, Richard Smith proceeded to ram into two patrol vehicles that had joined in on the chase. Little did he know that he had also managed to drive all four of his tires through spike strips that the police had set up. Even then, Richard Smith kept his cool.
Authorities say that the Florida man lit up a cigarette once his car was deemed useless, and though he didn’t charge the officers when he exited his vehicle, he wouldn’t comply… so the authorities tasered him. Richard Smith was then arrested on charges of two counts of aggravated assault on a law enforcement officer, battery on a law enforcement officer, two counts of resisting arrest, DUI, refusal to submit to a DUI test and petit theft. The Florida man’s bond was set $120,000.
The Highlands County Sheriff’s Office could hardly believe the wild encounter they had with the Florida man, and thankfully, they got video of it all through body cameras:
“Strange things happen all the time when you’re in law enforcement. This one, however, might make the books. We would be very interested to hear from anyone else who has been offered a vodka spritzer by their suspect in the middle of a vehicle pursuit.
Or that the same suspect calmly tried to walk away from a crash, puffing on a cigarette, despite being surrounded by deputies. Or (yes, it keeps going) that the same suspect asked why he was being arrested and commented to the deputies ‘You guys had fun, though, right?'”
