BUNNELL, Fla. — Lasty Friday, a suspect was captured after a shooting in Lake County and subsequent manhunt in Flagler County. That suspect’s name and his charges have now been released.
Levon Coakley, 36, of Tampa, is charged in Flagler County with fleeing and eluding with disregard for safety of people or property, resisting arrest without violence, reckless driving damage to people or property, and failure to stop or remain at crash involving injury. He was also charged under a Lake County warrant with aggravated battery with a deadly weapon.
Flagler County Sheriff Rick Staly said his office was notified by Lake County on Friday afternoon that Coakley, who was wanted in a shooting investigation, was crossing into Flagler County on State Road 11 near Cody’s Corner. Deputies stopped him on U.S. Highway 1 near his secondary address in Palm Coast.
Deputies say Coakley got out of his car but ignored their commands, then got back in the vehicle and sped off.
The sheriff’s office said his “reckless driving” caused a multivehicle crash with minor injuries.
Coakley allegedly ended up driving in the opposite direction of traffic on Interstate 95.
The vehicle part of the chase ended when deputies deflated his tires with stop sticks near mile marker 290. His vehicle rolled before landing upright, striking trees, and catching fire.
Coakley then ran into the woods in the F-Section of Palm Coast, deputies said. He surrendered after an almost hourlong manhunt involving multiple agencies.
He was taken to a local hospital for medical clearance and then booked into the Sheriff Perry Hall Inmate Detention Facility without bail.
“This was truly a multi-agency effort, as this dirtbag fled through multiple counties before our deputies stopped and caught him,” Staly said in a news release. “He put a lot of lives in danger when he recklessly fled from law enforcement, and I am thankful that nobody was hurt or killed because of his dangerous actions.”
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