The State Attorney’s Office on Monday dropped the charge of fleeing and eluding against Flagler County Sheriff’s Detective Ardit Coma five days after Ormond Beach police arrested him as he was speeding to work on U.S. 1 in his agency-issued car.
Coma, who was suspended without pay immediately after the arrest, still faces a speeding violation for going 88 in a 55 and an internal affairs investigation that likely will result in some penalties for policy violations, but is in the process of being reinstated and his arrest record sealed, according to his attorney, Aaron Delgado.
Delgado had immediately filed a motion to dismiss the fleeing and eluding charge, a third-degree felony, and spoken with several officers involved in the arrest to establish that there had been no intent on Coma’s part to flee or elude. He’d been unaware of the lights behind him–he was blaring music as he sped–and was pulling over to offer Ormond Beach police assistance when he saw the deployment of stop sticks. He was not aware that the stop sticks were intended for him, Delgado said.
The attorney said there were two reasons for the rapid resolution of the case: the clarity of and ready access to the evidence and the need to restore Coma’s income.
Coma, 28, lives in Ormond Beach. He’d left home for work before 8 a.m. on Dec. 4 on U.S. 1, after allegedly speeding without responding to an Ormond Beach sergeant’s emergency lights. The Ormond officer reported that he followed Coma at high speed for 1.9 miles and directed another officer to set up stop sticks ahead.
“He really didn’t know what was going on,” Delgado said of Coma. “As more and more reports came out from the various law enforcement officers, the overall picture they painted was, hey, this was just he had no idea we were trying to stop him. The officer that was behind him there, the one signaling to stop, didn’t have his lights on for very long at the speed they were traveling, literally at the time of day, the angle of the sun.”
Coma, Delgado said, admitted he was speeding “and he was listening to music really loudly, and he was focusing on the day ahead of him, not his rear view mirror. Why he stopped, ultimately, was he saw a police officer trying to put out stop sticks, and he thought, I’ll stop and assist, because I’m a deputy on my way to work. I’ll help. And that’s why he was so shocked when they arrested him. He’s like, What?”
The officer setting up the stop sticks confirmed that Coma’s behavior was consistent with that of an officer stopping to lend assistance, Delgado said. A supplemental report by the sergeant who made the arrest provided additional information that helped lead to the charges being dropped.
“I’m not saying that anyone made any mistakes,” Delgado said. “Everyone handled this the right way. No one cut any special slack to him being a police officer. No one said, Oh, well, you’re a police officer. Get out of here. They did what they probably would have done with any citizen. And then the process worked the way it should work for any citizen, which is: there’s an arrest, the powers that be, the State Attorney’s Office, your lawyer, they review the evidence, they talk about it, they gather the facts. And if there’s not a case the state feels like that they should prosecute, whether they can get a successful conviction on it or if the equities don’t justify it, they dismiss the charges.”
The second reason for the rapid resolution, at least for Delgado, was Coma being without pay. Typically after an arrest an employee may be suspended, placed on administrative leave, but with pay, pending the resolution of the case. “Very few people could go two weeks without getting paid, or a week without getting paid,” Delgado said. “I would say the average criminal case probably takes, like, six months to a year to unravel.”
He pressed the State Attorney’s Office to address the case. “It’s not just because he’s a police officer,” he said. “I commend the State Attorney’s Office for moving so quickly. Many times I’m successful in getting the state to review my clients’ cases quickly, especially when there’s something like this at stake.”
Flagler County Sheriff’s Chief of Staff Mark Strobridge, who oversees internal affairs investigations, said last week that there would be an IA investigation to address Coma’s possible policy violations, immediately following the closing of the criminal case. The investigation will address the speeding. The penalties, Delgado said, could be a demotion or the loss of a privilege, such as taking his agency-issued car home, but nothing more serious.
In mid-afternoon today, the Sheriff’s Office issued a release stating that Coma was reassigned to administrative, non-law enforcement duties.
The release also quotes Staly at length: “As we said initially, we believe in the criminal justice system. The case was dismissed just like it would be for any citizen based on the evidence and facts of the case presented to the State Attorney’s Office by the Ormond Beach Police Department. I personally reviewed the arrest report and was surprised that an arrest was made based on the lack of evidence showing he was intentionally trying to flee, while driving an agency vehicle. Although the criminal charge was dismissed, the facts appear clear that Detective Coma was speeding in an agency vehicle. I believe in accountability for everyone in our agency and transparency with our community, and our internal investigation will determine what policies were violated, and he will be held accountable. In fact, he will likely be held accountable to a higher standard than an average driver committing a traffic infraction.”
Disclosure: Aaron Delgado is FlaglerLive’s attorney and a member of its Board of Directors.
wow says
Oh please.
You know says
That ormond cop should be ashamed of himself. No questioning or investigation, just slap the cuffs on and go to jail cause you made me angry.
Imagine if this was your family member who was treated this way. This isn’t how police work is conducted.
Really? says
I think he was upset because the man was going 33 miles an hour over the speed limit which, to my understanding is called “breaking the law”. How would you feel if he blasted by you in the early morning hours while you were trying to get your kid to school safely?
Jim says
Well, I’m glad to know that a Flagler cop can run 88mph in a 55 mph limit and the worst thing that might happen is that they might take his police-issued car away.
And thank goodness they moved quickly to make sure he started getting paid again. It’s important that he pay the absolute minimum penalties for his actions.
And, just for giggles…. He’s obviously the kind of cop we expect in this county. He clearly has excellent reasoning skills, a strong commitment to the safety of the community and residents and a strong personal commitment to following the laws just as he expects those he investigates and arrests to do.
I guess if/when Flagler cops pull anyone for speeding, they apologize for it. After all, it’s not all that bad when they do it….
Obviously we’re past any true penalties for this. I think he should get a significant suspension, reduction in rank/pay and lose the car.
This is a terrible look for Flagler County Sheriff’s Office and leadership.
Bill Boots says
Rules for Us, exact same rules for Police, BUT……very different interpretations and penalties!!
Whats Sheriff got to say? Most likely nothing, what say you Staly?
Marek says
What else would you expect?!
Jf says
This is reckless driving all day long! I get the fleeing and eluding being dropped but itshould have been reduced to a minimum of reckless driving. If it were anyone else other than Coma we would still be waiting on a court date. I can’t believe that the state attorneys office dropped all charges. It should have at least been a reckless driving charge.
The dude says
I mean they got a dude who shot up his neighbor still on duty… why not?
Incompetence is a central tenet in the MAGA philosophy… clearly.
ecs says
Had one today on dash cam hauling ass up us 1 from ormond to the cut off rd to the s.o. I stayed right behind him at 77 mph and he never looked in the mirror. Staleys boys
Jay Tomm says
Could the Ormond cop have a grudge? Cause he can read the plate, he can check it & would have came back registered to FCSO……
But it’s true if any of us used some excuse as oh I wasn’t aware you have lights on & was blasting music…no judge would care.
Skibum says
Law enforcement personnel are supposed to be observant. Law enforcement personnel are supposed to be the example, not the violator. Law enforcement personnel are supposed to uphold their oaths, and sworn duty to “protect and serve”, not profoundly embarrass and sway the justice system into treating them differently than the law treats everyone else.
I know this from my own law enforcement career. This individual’s excuse is, well, inexcusable at best. Ormond Beach PD was actively pursuing his speeding vehicle as well as radioing ahead to other officers who had to set up spike strips up the road ahead of the pursuit. And this “brilliant, observant” detective somehow didn’t know that HE was the one the PD was trying to stop???
Either he is one of the most UNobservant cops around, which in my view would raise a lot of red flags and make him an extremely poor choice for a detective slot, or he is a complete liar who is making a travesty out of the criminal justice system, with the cooperation from the State Attorney’s office!
In either case, I have to ask… is justice being served? Well, we will all have to wait with baited breath to see what happens with the internal investigation to follow. But for now, I’m still shaking my head in astonishment.
C’mon, people. For heaven’s sake… if you want citizens to believe us when we call law enforcement a “profession”, y’all MUST act like professionals, and handle incidents of LEOs who do idiotic, criminal things just like you would if it were someone else doing it. That is the standard which has to be met, period!
JOE says
the blue scam what a joke road pirates for you.
Muzimyk says
I guess no perp walking or loss of income when you know the right people.
This clearly shows our Judicial System is in need of reform. ☮️
Nephew Of Uncle Sam says
“And then the process worked the way it should work for any citizen, …”
BS, anyone else would have been taken into custody and face full charges.
They shouldn’t even be taking the tax payer funded vehicles home with them let alone ignoring laws while using them.
Now if they could only learn how to use the turn signal function.
YouMakeMeSick says
The sheriffs department will regret this one, deeply. We the people will remember this attack on our rights and there will be consequences for it.
JimboXYZ says
This is crazy for that solution ? We’ll have to see what FCSO chooses to apply ? Airport Road & US-1 is 45 mph, not 55 mph. Why, because the sign there indicates that for one. But also the infrastructure of a gas station & other businesses for traffic congestion. So the Ormond Officer may have followed FCSO Coma for 1.9 miles when speed limit sign resumes to 55 mph, that still doesn’t change the fact that most likely the radar/laser lock was in the 45 mph posted zone. I just think the 88 was softened for the 55 mph zone & not applied to the 45 mph zone ? 33 mph vs 43 and 2 mph of double the speed limit zone is definitely a Super Speeder violation.
And the explain away that Coma wasn’t aware of being followed to respond to flashing lights ? How unaware for distracted is that for something any motorist wouldn’t get as an excuse ? You’re supposed to be aware & alert when operating a motor vehicle. If what’s coming after from behind for being clocked at 88 mph, this isn’t a “Back to the Future” movie where Marty McFly (Coma) travels backwards or forward into the future in a DeLorean (Ford Taurus in Coma’s case). The stacking of citations for charges was legitimate in Coma’s case. I think they took Coma’s best behavior driving & service into consideration & reduced this to be a best case outcome for the FCSO LEO ? It’s like a Hunter Biden immunity of sorts for some sort of pardon that makes no sense. I recall reading Coma saved a life for on duty. That’s the job description though, isn’t it ? This is separate from that incident. If that were the case ? Shouldn’t drug dealers get a pass for being a decent human being when they aren’t dealing drugs themselves ? If a drug dealer ever made a donation to the homeless couldn’t they call in that chip for a pass ? Hey, just calling balls & strikes here for what the optics are ?
Not sure how often (if ever ?) the OBPD backs off a high speed pursuit ? Would they do that for anyone else that was not stopping on US-1 for flashing emergency lights at the very least, perhaps a siren ? I think 88 mph in a 45/55 is siren worthy speeding traffic enforcement ?
Just me, quick resolution to repair any relationship for the Volusia/Flagler County Law Enforcement arrangement ? Sheriff & Township Police forces ? Coma pulled over to assist in chop sticks because he was unaware that he was the reason the chop sticks were being set up & deployed ? The officer setting them up probably told him he was the reason the chop sticks were being deployed & there was no reason for being the helper ? Loud music is distracted driving in this case ? Who doesn’t monitor their rear view mirrors, even at that speed at well above what the cattle drive of the speed limit is doing ? Was this carpool karaoke distracted driving ? I think he was speeding for his own adrenaline rush that being an officer is, the loud music was his prep to prepare for the day ahead. Some rock anthems do that ? Then again I’d hate to think he was listening to Country or Taylor Swift pop music (Is Officer Coma a Swifty ?), maybe even rap/hip hop and getting that amped up for a shift ?
Wtf says
I guess we will never see the dash cam video??? Definitely a different justice system, for the police.
CPFL says
Does this open up Volusia and Flagler counties to the Coma defense if you just keep driving at a high rate of speed when eluding police? Do you say oh my bad I did not see your lights and hear the siren…I had the music up and I was in the zone? Sorry officer/judge, I was totally doing a Coma and request the charges for fleeing and eluding be dropped from my case and no reckless driving just speeding….I would like that reduced too cause I was in the goin to work zone!
The Who says
Using the old Pinball Wizard Defense:
Deaf, I couldn’t hear because of the loud music,
Dumb, going 88mph in a 55mph zone and
Blind, the sun was in my eyes.
Wonder if it will work for me?
disgusted says
I am glad I never became a law officer down here in this joke of a land of cops I hope he doesn’t lose his detective status because it took him a long time to reach that position two years wow, staley needs to go how long you wanna stay there 50 years plus . do some radar on old Kings Road they’re doing 60 70 mph and they got the deputy who sits in the Open by Jehovah witnesses that’s real bright. I thought you’re supposed to give them tickets hide get them on radar. Give them a ticket and that will deter them from next time. They don’t hide because they don’t wanna do the work of issuing a ticket.
Sam says
More blatant corruption by the pedo klan. Deport maga terrorist to Salvador death camps!
Mr. Bill says
I agree with this call. He had no intent or reason to flee. He stopped to assist when he saw the stop sticks.
He still has a lot on his plate. Attorney Aaron Delgado isn’t cheap, but he’s very good. I know from experience. It’s cash up front. On a detective’s salary, that’s gonna hurt.
I agree with Staly’s call.
RU joking? says
Oh, no, the poor detective couldnt detect a police car following him as he drove a taxpayer funded car down the road at 33mph OVER THE SPEED limit, endangering the public? Lets all throw him a pity party. Maybe we should all pay for his lawyer too. We wouldnt have to have this extremely arrogant and destructive young man to suffer at all for the consequences of his actions. We wouldnt want him learning a valuable lesson would we?
Fed up says
Just Staly showing his lack of commitment to anything except making law enforcement look good
hjc says
TAXPAYER would have
Taken a beating
Thrown in a cage
Forced to post bail
faced who knows how many charges
a slow court system
and who can afford an attorney
Forced to pay huge fines and possibly more time in a cage
SHERIFF’S deputy gets a slap on the hand and a promotion should assign him a Ford mustang