PUTNAM COUNTY, Fla. – A chase across multiple Florida counties ended in the safe return of a kidnapped mother and her two small children.
Michael Anthony McNeal, 36, was arrested in connection to the alleged kidnapping.
Facebook posts from both the Putnam and St. Johns County sheriff’s office detail the start of the chase around 2 a.m. on March 3.
SJSO deputies spotted a car near Interstate 95 and State Road 207 that was wanted in connection with the kidnapping of a woman and her two kids in Broward County.
That’s when the SJSO said the car fled from deputies and Florida Highway Patrol troopers into Putnam County.
One deputy in the video can be heard saying the car is going over 130 mph, eventually turning off the headlights and driving at times on the wrong side of the road.
“Its a recipe for disaster,” News4Jax Crime and Safety Analyst Tom Hackney said. “Luckily it had a positive outcome.”
The PCSO then joined the pursuit before the car crashed on North Highway 17 near Comfort Road. The SJSO said the South Florida native then ran on foot.
“The mother had injuries from being beaten and choked. The children were unharmed but were not secured in a child seat or seatbelts‚” the SJSO said in the post.
The PCSO added that the mother told deputies McNeal had broken into her apartment, took her and her kids and was heading to Ocala “where he threatened he would kill her.”
The SJSO Air Unit responded to the scene and using a thermal camera found McNeal hiding inside a dump truck before he was taken into custody.
“Those deputies could have easily driven by there,” Hackney said. “Not had any idea the suspect was in there. When that air unit picks up that heat signature there is no doubt looking at it that there’s somebody in there. And there’s no doubt that they’re successfully apprehended because of what that air unit is doing.”
The rescue started with the Margate Police Department and throughout the chase pulled in the St. Johns County Sheriff’s Office, the Putnam County Sheriff’s Office, Palatka Police Department, and Florida Highway Patrol.
“It definitely goes in the win column for all those agencies,” Hackney said, “And the working together is exactly what it should be.”
The Margate Police Department in Broward County is investigating the kidnapping.
McNeal remains in the Putnam County Jail on a $135,500 bond and face charges including aggravated fleeing and eluding law enforcement, resisting law enforcement, child neglect, and reckless driving.