Ardit Coma, a 28-year-old detective with the Flagler County Sheriff’s Office, was arrested by Ormond Beach police early this morning on a felony charge of fleeing and eluding law enforcement.
The incident took place a little before 8 a.m. on U.S. 1 in Ormond Beach, as Coma was driving to work in Bunnell in his gray Taurus. He has been suspended without pay, pending the disposition of the case.
According to his arrest report, he was driving at 88 mph in a 55. Ormond Beach Police Sgt. Caleb Braun, after clocking him going that speed, U-turned and followed Coma, closing the distance near the intersection of U.S. 1 and Airport Road but not yet activating his lights. Coma had slowed enough that Braun could see the reflection of his patrol car in the Taurus’s bumper.
At that point Braun activated his patrol car’s emergency lights and siren. The Dodge Durango was clearly marked as a police car, not an undercover car. “The vehicle continued northbound in the inside lane, failing to yield,” the report states, as other vehicles were yielding to the emergency-lit cop car.
The Taurus continued north to Wall Avenue, “then merged into the outside lane and accelerated around traffic. It was apparent the vehicle was actively attempting to flee,” the report states. “Sgt. Braun deactivated his emergency lights and siren, as he did not intend to pursue.” Braun relayed the information about the Taurus’s direction to the 911 center, making other patrols aware and suggesting the deployment of stop sticks, which, when successful, puncture tires.
When the Taurus passed another officer’s position at Ormond Lakes Boulevard and U.S. 1, the officer reported it was approaching 90 mph. An officer deployed stop sticks at Pine Tree Drive and U.S. 1. The Taurus drove around them and stopped in the turn lane, some 350 feet north of the deployment. It had traveled 1.9 miles from the point where Braun had closed in on it.
Braun ordered Coma out of the vehicle. Coma complied. Braun noticed Coma’s weapons and police gear on his belt, such as handcuffs. Coma was handcuffed, asking, “What is going on?” Braun told him he was fleeing and eluding.
“When did that happen?” Coma asked, laughing, according to the report. He said he had not noticed Braun behind him.
Ormond police contacted the Flagler County Sheriff’s Office about the incident, and to retrieve the car, an agency vehicle. Coma was taken to the Ormond Beach Police Department for processing.
“Sheriff Rick Staly expects our employees to follow the law,” Chief of Staff Mark Strobridge was quoted as saying in a release the Sheriff’s Office issued early this afternoon, “and when a deputy’s alleged actions rise to the level of an arrest, we act swiftly, as this type of behavior is not representative of the values or expectations of the Sheriff’s Office. We also believe in the criminal justice system which provides Detective Coma due process just like anyone else.”
The charge is a third-degree felony, punishable on conviction by up to five years in prison, though first-time offenders typically see the charge downgraded to reckless or careless driving, and adjudication withheld, if the felony charge isn’t dismissed. The speeding violation would remain regardless. For example, Colin Haggerty, the last Flagler County Sheriff’s deputy to face a criminal charge before Coma, –boating under the influence in September 2023, a first offense–pleaded to a lesser charge of reckless operation of a vessel, paid $750 to Mothers Against Drunk Driving, and took an alcohol safety course. He did not serve jail time, and adjudication was withheld on the misdemeanor.
Coma’s case is to be tried in Volusia County. He will then be subject to an internal affairs investigation at the Sheriff’s Office to determine whether he violated agency policies, which could lead to internal penalties. He has not had an internal affairs investigation previously.
Coma joined the Sheriff’s Office in 2023, and was the recipient of a Unit Citation in June 2023 and currently serves in the detective bureau’s Major Case Unit.
In May 2024, when he was a road deputy, he received a Life Saving Award, rescuing a man in his car in Bunnell who’d been unresponsive for 30 minutes following a drug overdose. The man had taken fentanyl, and later recovered. “Due to Deputy Coma’s quick thinking and immediate action, he was able to save a life,” a sheriff’s release stated at the time.
In June 2024, he was among the recipients of a Unit Citation award for being part of the rescue of a woman suffering from a mental health breakdown, and from hypothermia, in wilderness in west Flagler. It is unusual for a young road deputy to make the jump to detective as quickly as he did, but not unheard of: deputies with strong records have made a similar jump before, among them Kathryn Gordon, who was then named Law Enforcement Officer of the Year three months ago.
YouMakeMeSick says
Disgusting example of the ‘Rules for thee, but not for me” mindset that every single officer I have ever had the displeasure of knowing, seems to believe in and practice. The police are a gang/cult that we have all grown tired of, especially now that they are kidnapping and disappearing people solely based on their skin color here in America. What a disgusting excuse for a country we have become! People like these ‘men’ in blue are the exact cause if our nations demise, and its time we end this sick little experiment of theirs. Defund the police and abolish all federal law enforcement and prosecute every last abuse of power ever documented. FTP ACAB.