A drug suspect nearly ran over a police officer while fleeing a traffic stop at The Villages Elementary of Lady Lake.
The officer spotted a bronze Toyota pickup in the wee hours Tuesday morning and discovered that its license plate had been reported in stolen in Sumter County, according to an arrest report from the Lady Lake Police Department.
During a traffic stop in front of the school on Rolling Acres Road, 36-year-old Fabian Jocoel Grady of Wildwood, rolled down the heavily tinted window, looked at the officer “and began to inhale a marijuana cigarette,” the report said. Grady “then blew the smoke out of the driver side window and rapidly accelerated.” Grady’s vehicle swerved at the officer, who had to back away to avoid being hit.
Grady fled down Rolling Acres Road and ran through the stop light at County Road 466. He continued toward Lake Ella Road where the officer lost sight of him. A Fruitland Park police officer picked up the chase at Lake Ella Road and U.S. Hwy. 27/441. Several other Fruitland Park police officers joined in the pursuit, but Grady continued accelerating until he reached the Leesburg city limits. The Leesburg officers deployed stop sticks, flattening the tires of Grady’s vehicle.
An inventory of the truck turned up 2.1 grams of methamphetamine and 1.64 grams of marijuana. The drugs were contained in bags that “appeared to be wet” as if they “were bitten.”
Suspecting that Grady had ingested the narcotics, officers had him transported to UF Health-Leesburg Hospital.
Upon his release from the hospital, Grady was arrested on charges of aggravated assault on a law enforcement officer, fleeing to elude police with disregard for public safety, driving while license suspended, possession of a controlled substance, possession of marijuana, attaching a license plate not assigned to a vehicle and possession of drug equipment. He was booked at the Lake County Jail on $17,000 bond.
Grady had been arrested last year after a traffic stop in downtown Wildwood.
