Driver Flees After Carjacked Ford Involved In High Speed Molino Crash

May 6, 2012

A vehicle taken by an armed carjacker Friday night  in Molino was located after a high speed hit and run accident Saturday night.

The carjacking happened in the 5000 block of Schaag Road about 8:40 p.m. Friday. The victim reported that a man approached them and first asked for a ride. Then, the suspect reportedly took the victim’s 2008 Ford Focus at knife point.

According to the Florida Highway Patrol, the same  2008 Ford Focus was eastbound on North Barth Road near Molino about 8 p.m. Saturday at a “vary high rate of speed”.  An unknown black male driver failed to negotiate a right-hand curve and skidded into a small tree. The vehicle continued to travel through the yard of a residence until it finally collided with a Dodge pickup parked in a garage, barely missing the structure of the garage and a nearby house.

The driver finally managed to get the vehicle stopped, according to the FHP, exited the car, had a very short conversation with witnesses  and then fled the scene. Authorities were unable to locate him.

The Focus suffered $10,000 in damaged, according to the FHP, while the 1991 Dodge pickup suffered about $50 in damage.

The incident remains under investigation by the Florida Highway Patrol and the Escambia County Sheriff’s Office.

For more photos from the scene, click to enlarge.

Pictured: A Ford Focus reported carjacked Friday night was involved in a high speed hit and run accident Saturday night near Molino. NorthEscambia.com photos by Kristi Smith, click to enlarge.

Comments

17 Responses to “Driver Flees After Carjacked Ford Involved In High Speed Molino Crash”

  1. richard tripper on May 7th, 2012 10:08 pm

    Gerry you might want to check the facts on the budget Sheriff Morgan has not cut his budget as he has said, he has only increased it every year. This information is available from the Escambia County Clerk of the Court. Morgan pays his Chief Deputy over $130,000.00 a year plus benefits and Deputies are still being paid $34,000.00. At a recent republican forum at Washington High School Morgan told the audience that he would pay his Chief Deputy $250,000.00 if he had it because he is worth that much. Not one word about paying his deputies any more money. Morgan also hired the Chief Deputy’s daughter at $49,000.00 a year plus benefits as a PR person. I have no criticism for the officers that work at the Sheriff’s Office my only criticism is for the Sheriff who is misleading the citizens. Morgan has not reduced the budget and has not decreased crime. The facts on the crime statistics are available from the FDLE web site. I disagree that the presence of more officers doesn’t have an impact on criminal activity, it does. People who live and work in the northern portion of Escambia County pay taxes and deserve sufficient coverage. Everything I stated is documented and can be obtained as public records from the Sheriff’s Office or the Escambia County Clerk of the Court.

  2. TK on May 7th, 2012 5:45 pm

    Im just thankful my dad is safe and my two sons still have their grandfather. As far as the sherrifs office go just do your damn job and stop accusing people of stupid crap which you know nothing of. The good cops in this county get a bad rep because of the few morons they have to work with. My friend was formally married to an escambia county cop who beat her and caused a miscarriage. Did he get punished when the cops were called on him? Hell NO! Where are the good people that want to do good things not just crooked people who want control…

  3. Gerry on May 7th, 2012 3:14 pm

    Crime is increasing everywhere and that includes the Northend. I don’t see blaming our sheriff. Remember he has had to slash his budget to the bone and has had to do with less personnel. It stands to reason he has to put more people in the highest crime areas. We all have to do the best we can to stay safe and protect our property. It doesn’t help to blame our sheriff, or the deputies. I have lived in Molino all my life and I grew up with the philosophy, be prepared to take care of yourself, because it might take the “law” awhile to get there.

  4. mr young on May 7th, 2012 1:01 pm

    I’ve been around some shady people and have seen some of the things people are capable of you can have twenty police officers patrolling an area and a thief will strike that’s what they do that’s there life its unfortunate we have to deal with it we just have to be prepared for it I’m not saying its the victims fault just sayin be alert and safe by the way if there is any car jackers that want my truck the joke is on you

  5. No Excuses on May 7th, 2012 8:30 am

    I would like to say that I do appreciate the presence of the north end deputies. When the horse was killed on Highway 29N a while back, they came by to ask us to check on our animals (around midnight). Fortunately, all three were still where they belonged. That told us that the law enforcement officials in our area were aware of who had what on their farms.
    I think that carjackers strike when they see an opportunity. Even if the deputies patrolled every 15 minutes through the neighborhood, all the car jackers needed to do was wait until they were gone, then make their move. I think that stricter enforcement of laws and penalties already on the books AND a strong neighborhood watch presence would probably be a better deterrent. We do need more officers – I am not arguing that point, but I agree with whoever asked how more officers would have stopped this. Carjacking is a crime of opportunity. Maybe if the driver had a gun and pulled it out? Not a good situation in any event.

  6. Kirko Bangz on May 7th, 2012 1:47 am

    Dodge > Ford

  7. Callit on May 6th, 2012 10:49 pm

    Carjacked with a knife? That thug better be a laid off cook at Benny Hanna of Tokyo if he thinks he’s gettin my car with a knife. I’m not that fast on the draw but I only need one shot to hit what I aim at.

  8. citizen on May 6th, 2012 9:05 pm

    To Mr Spin, The Sheriff added a couple of Officers up here just before he has a town hall meeting at Frans where he was happy to say he added some Officers up here. Afterwards, they faded away. We now still only have two per shift. The zone 4 Lt does cover this area after hours through the weekdays and on weekends but, if the schedule is done right, a Sgt should be out when the Lt is not. If you are waiting on prints to clear a case, you need to go to the house. TV has educated the worse criminals not to leave any prints. Why can’t someone make those 9/5 M/F investigators get off their butt and do some real police work and interview people to clear a crime like it has always been done. There is no excuse for the low clearance rate other than very bad leadership. A Lt in a substation should be a working Lt, if not, move his butt, he’s useless. It’s at least one more officer patrolling to prevent crime. If you can’t figure out that more officers may have prevented this crime as well as all the others up here, you need to quit. That my son would be a no brainier. Change starts at the top. It’s time for change.

  9. molino jim on May 6th, 2012 8:27 pm

    @ stop the spin — Thanks for sending this out before I could. I have to wonder if a lot of the folks who gripe about LEO all the time have had a chance to ride in the back seat of a LEO car. As has been posted on here time and time again —- if you think you can do a better job of enforcing the law and making the world crime free — go on out and spend about 500 hours to be certified and go out on the street.

  10. Richard Tripper on May 6th, 2012 7:23 pm

    “Stop the spin”, take your own advice and do just that. Both offices are down two deputies each spin that however you want. Getting good prints inside a vehicle is just as feasible as getting good prints anywhere. One more deputy on the street is another law enforcement officer that can respond to and/or deter criminal activity. You sound as if you have a very personal interest in who is elected by the way you spin things. You growing tired of the same arguments isn’t my concern. By the way based on what you posted instead of taking a Lt. away from “zone 6″ your taking it away from “zone 4″ what’s the difference your taking an officer away from another area.

  11. Stop the spin machine on May 6th, 2012 5:15 pm

    In response to Richard Tripper:
    1. Zones 5 and 6 have the same number of officers as the day the Sheriff took office, save for the LT that just got transferred. The number went up shortly after he took office, then went back to the original number.
    2. The LT in Century does NOT have to cover that entire area, the zone 4 LT traditionally covers zone 5.
    3. The overall clearance rate is about 20%; cases that have good forensics (I.e. fingerprints) have a much higher clearance rate. That said, getting good prints from INSIDE a vehicle is difficult.
    4. If you are as close to the Sheriff’s Office as you appear, then you know that a LT will be assigned to zone 5 very soon. FWIW, I doubt that the presence or absence of a LT right now is having an effect on our crime rate.

    Do any readers think that an increase in the number of deputies would have prevented this carjacking? If so, how?

    I don’t have a vested interest in who wins the election, but I’m growing tired of hearing the same old arguments posted every time there is a reported crime up here.

  12. Richard Tripper on May 6th, 2012 2:16 pm

    Jane, I believe that a neighborhood watch is useful, but what good is it if the Sheriff’s Office doesn’t have the manpower in place to answer the calls or make regular patrols. If you read North Escambia regularly you can see that crime is increasing in the north end of Escambia County. The two satellite offices in this area have lost 4 officers since this Sheriff took office and now another has been lost. This means that the Lt. in charge of the Century office now has to cover everything from around West Roberts Rd. to the state line in Century and Walnut Hill. JM, good luck even with fingerprints the sheriff’s office only has a 20% clearance rate. Sheriff Morgan doesn’t care about the north end of this county and has proven this time and time again. Someone please tell me how a “clean sweep” would have stopped or prevented this from happening?

  13. me on May 6th, 2012 9:28 am

    so did they catch him??

  14. Angela on May 6th, 2012 8:36 am

    There sure does seem to be a lot of car-jackings around the Escambia area. I know of at least 3 auto thefts in the East Hill neighborhood in just the past 2 weeks. All 3 stolen over-night while the owners slept.

  15. JM on May 6th, 2012 8:33 am

    Well there certainly should be a number of prints in that car so let’s see
    if the sheriffs office finest can figure this out and get the bad guys.

  16. kevin on May 6th, 2012 8:29 am

    wow the dodge got 50 in damage and hte focus got 10000. i love my older truck ;)

  17. Jane on May 6th, 2012 7:22 am

    So for the people who think “it won’t happen here”…this is why we have the Midcounty Neighborhood watch group. To help people learn how to identify the bad guys, get information which is helpful, know which numbers to call and how to make yourself less of a target. The Midcounty Neighborhood Watch meets every 4th Monday at 6:30pm at Aldersgate Church. We try to get it posted on NE before then. No fees/dues, just come join us!

Written by William Reynolds · Filed Under News