Daniel Ruddell, an ex-deputy who in February won a wage dispute with Flagler County Sheriff Jim Manfre, was arrested in St. Johns County Thursday night after an alleged robbery in Daytona Beach and a pursuit through Volusia and Flagler counties that ended in a wreck on I-95.
Deputies fired several shots at Ruddell as he was fleeing, but no one was injured, officials said.
Ruddell, 45, is wanted for armed robbery in Volusia County where, according to the St. Johns County Sheriff’s Office, he entered a Circle K at LPGA and Clyde Morris Blvd. in Daytona Beach at 5 p.m. Thursday, then allegedly demanded money and threatened the store clerk with a bottle of a liquid he claimed was toxic.
He fled a 2015 black Chevrolet Silverado. Officers from the Daytona Beach Police Department and the Volusia County Sheriff’s Office located the Chevrolet at Nova Rd. and 10th St. and attempted a traffic stop but Ruddell fled and got onto I-95 northbound.
Flagler County Sheriff’s deputies took over the dispute once Ruddell drove into the county, deploying stop sticks at two locations. Ruddell evaded them both, driving into St. Johns, where St. Johns deputies took the lead.
Deputies at the exit ramp at S.R. 207 deployed stop sticks, which Ruddell avoided before ramming into a Flagler County Sheriff’s patrol car and, according to the account by the St. Johns’ sheriff’s office, “attempted to run over deputies. Several deputies fired shots at the suspect vehicle who continued northbound” until a deputy-initiated maneuver caused the suspect to crash near the County Road 214 overpass.
By 9 p.m., traffic had backed up five to six miles south to mile marker 306.
Ruddell, of Palm Coast, was taken into custody without further incident. He was transported to Flagler Hospital in St. Augustine for evaluation, then arrested on a charge of aggravated fleeing and attempting to elude with property damage. Additional charges are pending in St. Johns and Volusia.
On Friday, sheriff’s deputies executed an ex-parte order to bring Ruddell in for an “evaluation,” a sheriff’s spokesman said, by health care professionals, suggesting that either the court or individuals familiar with Ruddell had concerns about his psychological well being. The evaluation was conducted and he was released.
Ruddell was a deputy sheriff at the Flagler County Sheriff’s Office from September 2006 through April 2014. He’d been a cop at the Daytona Beach Police Department for seven years before that. In July 2014 Ruddell filed a federal lawsuit against Manfre, claiming that he and other deputies had been required routinely to attend shift briefings off the clock, thus depriving them of overtime. That had been the practice at the sheriff’s office dating back to the administration of Don Fleming. Manfre’s administration ended the practice and briefly disputed the =lawsuit, which was joined by other deputies and turned into a class-action suit.
Last February Manfre agreed to settle the lawsuit and pay deputies a total of $183,000, though individual claimants’ totals were to average less than $500 for road deputies (Ruddell had been a road deputy).
On Nov. 18, Ruddell was arrested and booked at a Volusia county jail on charges of marijuana possession (more than 20 grams), resisting an officer without violence, and possession of drug paraphernalia.
“They are taking the lead on this investigation as the shooting and arrest took place in St. Johns County,” Jim Troiano, the Flagler sheriff’s chief spokesman, said in a statement Thursday night, referring to the St. John’s Sheriff’s Office. “As soon as the St. Johns County criminal investigation is completed, the Flagler County Sheriff’s Office will conduct an internal investigation into all aspects of our involvement in this incident.”
As of Friday morning, Ruddell had not been booked at the St. Johns County jail.
confidential says
As I believed then, looks like after all Sheriff Manfre was correct about deputy Ruddell’s lay off.
Good job Sheriff Manfre!. We the citizens need to be protected from pseudo cops. What for heaven’s sake made this former deputy do this? He could not find another law enforcement job in other agencies..? if so, no wonder why.
Ray Thorne says
wow…this is really something. One has to wonder if there’s some mental illness at play here (PTSD, depression etc…) to make a former law enforcement officer behave in such a manner. Glad no one was hurt.
Oh please says
PTSD from what? Adjusting to being an everyday citizen? This guys have problems just like everybody else in every other profession. I wonder how long ago he lost his certification?
tulip says
Actually, being under Manfre’s command could give anyone PTSD!! However, my guess it was more like substance abuse.
happening now says
Desperate people do desperate things……
Ray Thorne says
@ Oh please,
I’m sorry, I guess you know the man and any and all about his past history ….military? Law enforcement? etc..? It doesn’t seem odd that a retired law enforcement officer would suddenly find himself in trouble like this? His first run in with the law being a precursor to this much more dramatic event? He did wrong, but IMO, a psychological evaluation should also be conducted.
Manfre and Flemming record says
I have never worked in a place like this before nor have I ever seen the things I see here. I have been here 10 years and since I started working for the FCSO I have watched 19 current and former Law Enforcement Officers from Flagler County arrested!! It’s gotta be a record! Let’s see….Slyker, mr and Mrs Murray, Koenig, Det. Diago Morales, Cottam, Ruddell, Castorena, Juratavac, Stavris, Radcliff, Milstead, Gibbs, Rauber, Sturman…and….oh ya Jewels and Kraemer and Tyrone Ray…can we recruit a little better? Good job there chiefs and Sheriff.
Geezer says
Criminals come from ALL backgrounds – even from law-enforcement backgrounds.
Every single offender apprehended should be afforded the exact same treatment regardless of
said background.
Sure, look for mitigating circumstances too – just remember to give everybody the same
benefit of the doubt.
But we all know that it doesn’t work that way…………..
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Did everyone enjoy their turkey and stuffing?
I hope you did!
joe says
Typical police behavior, we see it all the time, just imagine all the injustices this man was part of while he was a officer, every arrest he ever made should be re-evaluated. The worst kind of criminal is this kind
Anonymous says
My problem is not so much with someone like this officer getting the benefit of concern for his mental health but with other people who commit crimes getting less.
Oh please says
Thank you Geezer, precisely the point.
policmanguy says
DONT WORRY “JOE” I CAN ASSURE YOU RUDDELL DIDNT MAKE ANY ARRESTS OR DO ANY POLICEWORK FOR THAT MATTER.
just me says
joe says:
November 27, 2015 at 3:28 pm
Typical police behavior
really typical behavior joe??? No not at all that’s why it makes news.
Ray Thorne says
@ Joe,
what you say is typical, really isn’t. …..no need to think realistically….just imagine.
joe says
Not typical good police behavior which I can not be more thankful for. Sorry good po po I didn’t mean you. Just a good look at how easy a bad guy can infiltrate the system. And this type of thing is typical.
Anonymous says
My understanding is that this man was baker acted but then released. Isn’t there such a thing as a 72 hour hold in this area? It sounds like he could pull it together enough to snow whoever evaluated him in the ER…Which sort of indicates the presence of a personality disorder along with anything else he might be contending with.
Ray Thorne says
@ Confidential,
As with many of your posts in reference to the goings on at the Sheriffs Office, facts seem to escape you. Ruddell wasn’t laid off.. So what you “believed then” must have been some sort of fantasy.
Wow says
g record
November 27, 2015
Let’s not forget nunzieto who got caught forging a judges signature on a search warrant and also caught stealing electricity. But hey, they are the law. Manfre and Fleming still allow these dirty cops to continue working without punishment. Those are the ones who got arrested, the rest just have it in good with the sheriff. Or maybe they prefer criminals now for deputies…
Anonymous says
@ Manfre Flemming Record,
Since you’re going by record, seven of those you named were never employed by the Sheriff’s Office. Of those you named who were, only one is still employed there. If all of them still were, then you may have had a point.
confidential says
@ Ray T. As you seem to have detailed info…then what happened with Rudell in April 2014..? He resigned ? Because then he came back and sue Manfre!
Samuel L. Bronkowitz says
That leaves 11, with one still working there right?
Don't forget says
Nunzieto. Google search nunzieto Flagler county. See the kind of sheriffs we have working for our county… Smh