More than a dozen Flagler County Sheriff’s deputies were searching for two men who bailed from a stolen car–a 2019 Honda–at Riviera Estates Drive a little after 8 this evening.
The two men swam across a canal and were possibly armed. “The appearance by a deputy was that they saw them armed,” Sheriff Rick Staly, who was at the scene, said. “Until we find them, we don’t have that confirmed.”
The search, for two black men, took deputies through various areas of the R Section.
Flagler County Fire Flight, the county’s emergency helicopter, was called to fly over the scene and assist in the search.
“It was an LPR hit on US 1 of a vehicle stolen from Jacksonville,” the sheriff said of a license plate reader. (He had been on the way to Lowe’s on a personal errand when the stolen-car call came through. He changed course.) “When they saw a marked car, they took off before we could set up stop sticks, and they bailed out in the R Section. I have about 13, 14 deputies right now in a perimeter, Fire Flight, K-9, my director of Homeland Security happened to be out, he’s here, and myself. K-9 is running the tracks.”
License plate readers are located at certain intersections, scanning license plates and sending alerts to the sheriff’s office when a tag has been reported stolen.
“We’ve not put out an alert,” the sheriff said. “We have knocked on some doors and talked to some residents, and warned them. Obviously that wasn’t everyone.”
At 8:50 p.m., the search was called off. “We’re going to call it and try a different tactic,” the sheriff said, the thinking at the time being that the two men may have hidden in a residence, possibly with people they knew.
ASf says
The gangs seem to be honing in on Palm Coast.
Concerned Citizen says
Our Sheriff is always eager to get his name in the papers. On the way to Lowe’s and after all of this ”
I have about 13, 14 deputies right now in a perimeter, Fire Flight, K-9, my director of Homeland Security happened to be out, he’s here, and myself. K-9 is running the tracks.”
Sheriff Staly is either a news hound or does not trust his staff. You can always tell when election season is coming. Marshall Earp will appear more and more in the media.
And yet after all of this response effort the suspects eluded capture. How does one manage to elude dogs and a helicopter?
Inall ciriusness says
PC is truly the Wild West. Criminals like this put all of us in danger. Total bottom dwellers.
Jeffrey says
Surprise, surprise. Keep bringing in Section 8.
Mark says
I guess I need to change my plate before visiting my girlfriend?
Nunya says
And so now we have two more delinquents in our community. Bravo FCSO. Maybe you guys need to go through a little more training on hpw to apprehend people that flee. Seems to be pretty common here 🙄
Flatsflyer says
So let me get the numbers stright, about 25 involved and they come up empty,
the K-9 could not track the Preps, the Copter could not locate them. WTF is a Director
of Homeland Security role in Flagler County. I saw 10 so called Deputies yesterday
in Publix all decked out in their Dive Team uniform, why didn’t Hollywood Rick call out
horses, armored vehicles, etc. I think he needs a mobile TV van so he can make news
and broadcast it at the same time.
Bonnie says
To bad the gators weren’t hungry
Taylor says
Once they swim into the canal, the dogs aren’t going to pick up their scent.
Steve says
Ignore the noise. LEO do the best they can every day. Keep up the great work and be safe. No one bats 1000.
billyt says
wow , palm coast is crawling with gangs people. I actually had moved to Daytona to escape them! Way too much section 8 housing and home rentals to ex cons in palm coast
bill nelson says
And he wants six (6) MORE ????? God, I hope they all aim straight !
Ella says
The high number of rental homes and absentee owners certainly does not help matters.
Ella says
To Concerned Citizen, that comment is just plain mean. I’ve met Sheriff Staley and I do think he is really a nice person and he wants to keep our citizens safe. Yes, he uses social media and does promote the FCSO but I don’t think that is a bad thing. He seems very open to using technology to make the law enforcement easier, safer and more efficient.
PCResident says
I’m sorry but I really don’t feel the comments made here are fair to our Sheriff or our deputies. They have done an amazing job solving many crimes in our city/county all while putting their own lives at risk. I do think our justice system is WAY too lenient. Law enforcement can put them behind bars but the Judges just release them back into society to commit more crimes. I for one am very thankful for the “heads-up” that our Sheriff provides during searches or pursuits. What scares me more is NOT knowing what is happening. And to the person who mentioned section 8 housing, that’s a decision made by city/county officials and has NOTHING at all to do with our Sheriff’s Dept. They only uphold the law, not create it. There are many more places in this country where crimes are far more rampant and the community has no idea what is even going on around them. Solving crime is a community effort. See something, say something. Sometimes the bad guys do get away. But in PC I’m putting my money on our Sheriff Dept solving this one as well. The beauty of this country is, If your not happy here then your welcomed to go somewhere else. Be the solution, not the problem.
Dave says
If we just had 6 more deputies to not catch those bad guys the story could have read. More than 20 deputies failed..lolol
J K says
If all these keyboard ninjas have an issue with the way our men and women in uniform are doing their jobs, I implore them to become more active in their community rather than playing mister or misses answer-for-everything behind their computer screen. From what I’ve seen, the FCSO is always hiring.
Just a thought
Concerned Citizen says
Speaking as a prior law enforcement officer something doesn’t sound right here.
Yes perps occasionally get away. But after establishing a perimeter and deploying dogs and a helo? It’s mighty hard to out run a helicopter with sensors and video.
Sounds like more trainnig for situations like this is needed.
hawkeye says
My 2 cents , when the bad guys went in the canal the dogs lost their scent,as far as the chopper,all the bad guys had to do is crawl under a vehicle and then the choppers FLIR wouldnt be able to track them anymore, how do I know this? 2-3 years ago when 3 people robbed the ATT store on Belle terre the same thing happened. I caught a guy at the end of my driveway as I was leaving for work 430 am, I questioned him and he had no good reason for being there,so I ran him off,the next day I found out from reading Flagler live what had happened the previous day,so,I reported what I had seen to the cops and to make a long story short, they explained to me how the bad guys were able to escape.I dont think this was lack of trying by the police,I think both times the bad guys were lucky.Most of the time in an incident like this the police do a very good job.
Name (required) says
Palm coast, the Mecca of hideout spots, hell, you can rent here with no background check, in a house that’s sometimes not even owned by the person renting it! How? by merely sending a drug money rent check to a New York address every month! It’s strange how many petty things are heavily enforced in this town, whilst more important things are completely overlooked. I feel like property rentals should be approved by the city. That’ll help keep the trash out. Face it, the first generation of Palm Coast residents have sadly passed, and now it’s a haven for transients, because the actual homeowners don’t live here, they live up north. And these homes are just a source of supplemental income. That invites ever shade of ingrate imaginable. Facts.
Savannah2 says
To Concerned Citizen: Did you ever think that the sheriff might just be doing a GREAT job? He’s a hands on kind of person when it comes to work. He stays on top of what’s going on & gets the job DONE. I know because he use to be my supervisor years ago. My stepdad, who use to be a sheriff in a small town where I grew up was the same way. He knew everything that was going on, put a lot of criminals behind bars & kept the town safe. Just like Sheriff Staley is trying to do. Maybe you’d rather have all the criminals run amuck in your neighborhood??
Shark says
Barney Fife could have done better !!!!
Concerned Citizen says
@ PCResident
As a long time resident and retired public safety guy I will continue to voice my opinion on here. Especially when it’s a topic I know a little bit about.
As a taxpayer,registered voter and active emergency services volunteer I’m pretty sure I’m part of the solution and not the problem.
This agency is an accredited Law Enforcement agency with supposedly highly trained staff. Yet they continue to have issues that show inconsistency in training. Therefore the public has a right to call them out on continued issues as well as praise. Our Sherilff should spend less time showboating and more time training. He dropped the ball on thia one. Like it or not.
I will decline your advice to “go somewhere else” I’m fine just where I’m at. Just because someone doesn’t share your same opinion means they have to leave.
Willy Boy says
So, we’re they last seen in the canal? They may pop-up.
Come the Hell on... says
Sheriff Staly and his men caught a murder just the other day using LPR tech and other detective skills within 24 hours. Obviously these perps had the luxury of a local friend who is harboring these fugitives. I guarantee these clowns would be locked up if they were on their own running through the woods, They knew somebody local and are laying low inside a house. Obviously. Staly does a great job and gets little credit for it from these armchair warriors who know everything.
Concerned Citizen says
For those upset that I don’t like our Sheriff.
He’s a politician just like other office holders. He only responds to high profile cases when media is around. Think I’m making it up? Go back and look thru all the major cases and there HE is. Not his PIO not a Commander but the Sheriff himself. And I have to ask why. Is it micromanaging? Does he not trust his staff? Do we really need a Director of Homeland Security and the Sheriff on scene? Most agencies have a PIO (Public Information Officer) to handle major media incidents. Not our Sheriff though. It gets him in the limelight so he can garner votes.
Sheriff Staly may in fact be a likable person. I’ve interacted professionally with a number of them over the years and as an emergency services volunteer in the area. His agency still has major issues and quite a few for being accredited. What has he done to resolve them?
With all that response that evening it just seems odd that 2 perps were able to avoid detection from all those resources on scene.
What we should be doing is giving our praises to the line Deputies working the street. They are the ones making a day to day difference. I’m pretty sure if Staly left tomorrow FCSO would continue to run just fine.
Right says
@ Concerned Citizen,
I agree.