A hit-and-run suspect who fled on foot from law enforcement was nabbed behind a Publix grocery store in The Villages.
A Wildwood police officer began pursuing the light blue Toyota Celica at about 11 p.m. Tuesday when the officer noticed it had a cover over its license plate. The vehicle had been spotted at the Sunoco station at U.S. 301 and State Road 44.
The officer attempted to make a traffic stop at Casa Agave restaurant, but the vehicle accelerated at a high rate of speed, according to an arrest report from the Wildwood Police Department. The vehicle nearly crashed into a Spectrum van at the Spectrum office at 730 Main St., then reversed and began heading east on Kentucky Avenue. The driver lost control and crashed into a sign at the Parkwood community, located at Kentucky Avenue and Legion Avenue.
“It should be noted that the defendant almost struck several residents who were standing in their front yards,” the officer wrote in the report.
The driver, later identified as 37-year-old Donald William Travis III of Eustis, ditched the vehicle in the Parkwood community and, accompanied by a female companion, ran in the direction of Freedom Plaza on State Road 44. Officers found the vehicle and discovered its license plate had been assigned to a trailer. Methamphetamine was found on the driver’s-side floorboard.
The woman was apprehended behind Freedom Plaza. An officer found Travis behind Publix at Grand Traverse Plaza. A bag of methamphetamine was found in the pocket of his pants.
A check revealed Travis is on probation through 2024 for possession of a controlled substance.
He was arrested on charges of hit and run, possession of a controlled substance, driving while license suspended and failure to register a motor vehicle.
He was booked without bond at the Sumter County Detention Center.