Outside of a rejected Quentin Tarantino script, it was not the way an Uber call should go.
An Uber driver in Palm Coast and Flagler got the request for a ride Wednesday afternoon from the mini storage location at Marvin’s Garden, near the intersection of State Road 100 and Belle Terre Parkway.
The female driver pulled up her Kia by where Betty Jo Halter was standing with a service dog. Halter, 44, immediately approached the passenger side door frantically, according to a Flagler County Sheriff’s report, opened the door, and started loading the car with items from the storage unit. The driver told her not to do that. Halter ignored her, kept loading, then opened the front passenger side door, got in and sat down. The driver asked her to take her belongings and leave.
According to the driver, Halter pulled a black handgun out of a pink bag, in contravention of Uber rules (which state that “Uber prohibits riders and their guests, as well as driver and delivery partners, from carrying firearms of any kind while using our app” within applicable laws). Halter pointed the gun at the driver and said: “I’m not afraid to use it, bitch, you can ask Michael.” It is not clear what Michael she was referring to. His name would recur as the incident unfolded.
Halter forced the driver to turn off her phone so she could not be tracked. She allegedly forced the driver to go through many different neighborhoods–looking for “Michael.” She “kept threatening her with the handgun,” the report states, as they drove to different addresses. “Remember what I have,” Halter told the driver as she patted her pink bag.
They reached 2 Eric Place, a 5,000-square-foot house valued at $350,000 and listed as Halter’s residence on her arrest report.
Halter ordered the driver to drive around the back of the house and get out of the car, so the Uber driver wouldn’t drive off. Halter then removed items from the car and placed them on the back porch, had the driver get back into the car and drive to the front of the house, ostensibly to wait for “Michael,” and when a black Lexus pulled up, Halter told the driver to drive off as Halter hid on the passenger floorboard. The man in the black Lexus, apparently, was “Michael.” When the driver told Halter her shift was ending and that Halter should get out of the car, Halter told her: “Your shift ends when I say it does.”
They drove a street over behind the residence. Halter wanted to wait for “Michael” to leave. Halter got out of the car and began pacing. She had not paid her fare. All the while the dog and a make-up bag were still in the vehicle. The driver took them out, put them on the pavement, and drove off, calling 911 as she did so. She said she wanted to pursue charges.
A sheriff’s deputy found Halter at the rear of 2 Eric Place. She’s no stranger to local law enforcement. Exactly two years ago deputies were called to the same house by the man who at the time had been Halter’s ex-boyfriend. Halter, he told authorities, would not move out and had been “getting crazy” to the point that he had to lock himself up in his room. She had kicked his bedroom in and chased him. The day before, deputies had responded to the same house on allegations by Halter that her ex had attacked her–allegations unsupported by what deputies found. She was eventually found guilty on a domestic assault charge and a charge of resisting arrest. She’d faced a domestic battery charge a year before, when she lived on Laguna Forest Trail. It was dropped.
On Wednesday she was likely calling for an Uber ride because her driver’s license was suspended for five years in 2016, following a drunk driving conviction. She’d also faced a drunk biking charge.
On Wednesday following the Uber incident, she was charged with false imprisonment and aggravated assault with a deadly weapon, both felonies, and has been held at the Flagler County jail without bond since.
Brian says
Nice lady.
Anonymous says
Fatal Attraction!
Bob says
Hope the dog is okay..
Anonymous says
SAD, Betty Jo has fallen off the trolley tracks. Could it happen to any of us out here? YOU BET IT
COULD.
David S. says
Lock her up….
Josh Davis says
Obviously the woman has severe mental problems. Unfortunately, our society normally goes with “mass incarceration” instead of treating the underlying problem. Her alleged behavior will not change until the illness is addressed.
Dave says
Another crazy with a legal gun
Vinny says
This rides nots over till I say its over…………… And the socialist can’t understand why We the People Carry concealed.
palmcoaster says
What addictions does to a person!
Anonymous says
This lady most likely had a legal gun even though it was suspected that she has a mental illness. I completely understand if you feel the need to “bare arms” but this isn’t okay. I just hope the driver is okay and can stay strong during this terrifying incident.
Dave says
If the gun wasnt legal she would have been charged for having a stolen gun. This why we dont need citizens walking around with guns.
Anonymous says
I like how everyone assumes it was a legal gun. Lol
Anonymous says
My guess is that this woman has a long history of mental illness and tries to “self-medicate” in all the wrong ways. Once she gets out of jail, I hope she will be assigned to strictly supervised probation for as long as possible and will end up with a P.O. who knows how to stay on top of such situations. Otherwise, the cycle will just repeat itself until she either harms herself or someone else so badly that she is incarcerated for good– or worse.
Martin says
You can’t fix stupid
Arlene says
Hope the authorities took the dog away from this crazy. This woman needs more than a service dog! The dog is in danger. Rehome it.
FLgirl says
Way to go to the Uber Driver for staying calm. She waited for her opportunity and took it.
Mike says
DAVE.. I fully agree. Although I don’t know the exact statistic I feel like there are more mentally incompetent people with guns than there is rationally sane. I don’t own a gun myself but is it a requirement when obtaining a firearm to be a possible treat to society? I never here anything good coming from every day civilians owning a gun. The always end up being a mental patient just not diagnosed.
Really says
Ok Hope this woman gets the help she needs via a long period of incarceration
Geezer says
She should have called for the Twinkie Mobile, not Uber.
Destination: nearest laugh factory.
Dog lover says
Bob-my thoughts exactly She has a “service dog”… I sure hope the dog is being taken care of.
Geezer says
The gun Issue: permits are issued to non-felons, and people who have never been
institutionalized against their will. There’s many a borderline gun-toter in Florida.
These are people that seem normal but harbor crazy ideas and walk that fine line…
There are many people out there who are respectable citizens with untreated PTSD.
Police especially are hesitant to seek treatment for PTSD, and they see all sorts of
horrific stuff. Same with paramedics and firefighters. A PTSD diagnosis is bad for career
advancement. So help is usually not sought.
Then there are the victims of all sorts of past/present abuse who will act out one day
when a specific trigger is pressed.
1 out of 5 Americans is purported to be mentally ill in some capacity.
Look around you, see that group of twenty people? Ask yourself: “how many are armed
in some way?” Then look at them again and try to figure out which 4 or 5 are mentally
unbalanced.
Scary stuff indeed.
carol says
Another day in Paradise!!!
Anonymous says
I’ll disarm when the rest of the world disarms. That means all these crazy assed governments with their armies included, crazy assed people, anybody with any kind of weapon.
Lou says
Who is her Commander in the “well regulated Militia” according to Amendment II of the U.S. Constitution.
Daphne says
Lock her up and throw away the key; she is a danger to everyone! Good lord! I’m glad the Uber driver wasn’t physically hurt, but I’m sure she will have emotional scars. Terrible!
South Florida says
What a nut job.
Sherry says
Dear Geezer, as usual, you have made an excellent point.
Greetings from very safe and peaceful Amsterdam.
To those of you who quite mistakenly have been brain washed to think more guns in circulation make a place safer. . . although you likely do NOT care about actual FACTS. . . . Let’s take a long look at the comparison between the USA and The Netherlands:
Dutch gun laws are actually quite strict. Gun ownership is seen not as a right, but a privilege, with hunting and target shooting the only two legitimate reasons for owning a gun. Self defense is not regarded as a valid argument for owning a gun, and only the police are allowed to carry a weapon.
Take a good read:
http://www.nationmaster.com/country-info/compare/Netherlands/United-States/Crime/Violent-crime
Gun homicides are a common cause of death in the United States, killing about as many people as car crashes (not counting van, truck, motorcycle or bus accidents). Some cases command our attention more than others, of course. Counting mass shootings that make headlines and the thousands of Americans murdered one or a few at a time, gunshot homicides totaled 8,124 in 2014, according to the F.B.I.
This level of violence makes the United States an extreme outlier when measured against the experience of other advanced countries.
Around the world, those countries have substantially lower rates of deaths from gun homicide. In Germany, being murdered with a gun is as uncommon as being killed by a falling object in the United States. About two people out of every million are killed in a gun homicide. Gun homicides are just as rare in several other European countries, including the Netherlands and Austria. In the United States, two per million is roughly the death rate for hypothermia or plane crashes.
In Poland and England, only about one out of every million people die in gun homicides each year — about as often as an American dies in an agricultural accident or falling from a ladder. In Japan, where gun homicides are even rarer, the likelihood of dying this way is about the same as an American’s chance of being killed by lightning — roughly one in 10 million.
In the United States, the death rate from gun homicides is about 31 per million people — the equivalent of 27 people shot dead every day of the year.
Take a good look at the chart in this article:
https://www.nytimes.com/2016/06/14/upshot/compare-these-gun-death-rates-the-us-is-in-a-different-world.html
Mythoughts says
Thank you for sending us this. Can you please send this to Washington and also the NRA.
new york state residnet says
sherry:
But on the other hand most of these gun cases where people are shot and killed most of them are drug dealers or felons of some sort. My husband and I are gun owners (legal) do not have PTSD or any other mental deficiencies. I know how to use all that we have and could protect myself.
gmath55 says
Take a look at these charts and info! You failed to mention these?
The cities with the highest homicide rates are once again nearly all in Latin America. https://www.economist.com/graphic-detail/2017/03/31/the-worlds-most-dangerous-cities
In El Salvador, the Murder Capital of the World. https://abcnews.go.com/International/el-salvador-murder-capital-world-gang-violence-life/story?id=39177963
List of cities by murder rate. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_cities_by_murder_rate
Wow says
Perfect person to own a gun. Crazy drunk lady. Guns keep us safe.
Geezer says
Many of us buy guns and carry because “everybody else has ’em.”
I have a nice collection of vintage Colts and Smiths, and Winchesters.
In all my years, I’ve never displayed a firearm in anger, and I’m pushing 60.
I love killing paper targets, and those dangerous tomato sauce cans.
Many a paper plate has ceased to be because of my actions.
The gun “problem” stems from people buying them for the wrong reasons,
and many simply responded to threats of gun control which always fuels
a buying frenzy.
Guns are here to stay, and so is the internet which prompts many a psychopath
to seek infamy (any sort of fame will do!) with instant headlines nationwide.
Remember Columbine? That’s probably the first internet-fueled mass killing
in the USA. (correct me if I’m wrong.) Remember the little children in Connecticut,
the Las Vegas massacre, and the Pulse disco? These are only a few examples.
I’m old enough to remember when the internet was for scholarly research only.
Look at it now—hate sites, radical movements and instant news. Now children
grow up staring at tablets, and being influenced by strangers of all stripes.
They text each other—IN THE SAME ROOM! They shame and bully on Facebook.
You have to be nuts to be on Facebook, folks. Your pictures can be copied and
manipulated to harm you and your family.
How about “privacy” as a concept huh?
Our troubles are complex, as they reflect a decline in normal human interaction
and a lack of respect for human life. Anybody up for a game of Dungeons and
Dragons? Don’t you love those computer games where you get to kill people all day?
Our society is sick. That is the ROOT problem. Too few people discuss this fine point.
That’s why I keep my firearms and carry when I deem it appropriate.
My old values are obsolete it seems at times, but I know, and I’ve seen the decline
over the last 3 decades especially.
What a can of worms… This can’t be fixed, I’m afraid to say.
Live your life, mind your own business and maybe you’ll get to grow old.
Sherry says
Yes. (Gmath). . thank you for pointing out the statistics that show our country to be lower in our gun violence than places like El Salvador. . . WOW! I can sleep better tonight!
While I agree with my dear friend “Geezer” that there are many, many contributing factors to the decline in morality in our country, which I also believe is tied to gun violence, I have not completely given up hope that a more healthy “shift” can happen.
After all, European countries that have taken in hundreds of thousands of those (non-white) refugees. . . you know, like the ones trump has banned for being terrorists, rapists and murderers . . . still have LOWER gun violence rates than we do. Young people all over the world are “addicted” to violent video games, and checking their phones every 2 seconds. Here in Amsterdam, they ride their bikes into each other and in front of cars because their eyes are glued to their phone.
BUT. . . still the gun violence/murder rate is lower in Europe and Asia BECAUSE guns are more strictly controlled than in the US.
Australia had a very successful gun “buy back” years ago, and their murder rate has fallen.
There are remedies to gun violence, climate change, unequal justice, political corruption and dishonesty, racism, sexism, and a myriad of other problems plaguing our country. . . . but, only if we are willing to join together to stem the tide and work long and hard towards creating a just and healthy society for the “common good! “For (ALL) The People, Of (ALL) The People and By (ALL) The People”!
We need to take our brains and “our power” back, from the greedy, corrupt, manipulative Rich and Powerful! It’s never too late!
Sherry says
@ My Thoughts. . . Not sure if you were asking me to send the charts and articles to Washington and the NRA. . . but I can assure you that everyone in Congress and the NRA is aware of these factual statistics. The majority just doesn’t give a damn! They are the corrupt, greedy Power Brokers who sold our best interests and even our lives in order to line their own pockets years ago! Follow the Money, and you will find the “political truth”. . . filled with corruption, lies and crimes that will never be prosecuted. . . until we rise up and demand real CHANGE!
Anonymous says
Very sad that her mental illness has not been treated and taken seriously after years of known issues. The dog is safe and was picked up from Flagler humane society today by family members. Somtimes treating the mental illness will result in a good life with criminal activity vs sticking them in jail!
Geezer says
Sherry:
Always nice things to say, even when disagreeing.
You are a good egg! I love your optimism and hope,
which never seem to fade.
I send warm regards for you and yours from “up north.”
\(•_•)
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—B