A traffic stop over windshield tint in the U.S. Virgin Islands escalated considerably after police say the driver sped away, fled on foot, and fired a shot at pursuing officers. By the time 22-year-old Akimo Smith was in custody, authorities say a Glock equipped with what appeared to be a firearm-conversion device had quite literally fallen from his person.
The incident began at approximately 11:48 p.m. on September 18 while Virgin Islands Police Department Special Operations officers were conducting traffic enforcement on Wimmelskafts Gade, commonly known as Back Street, on St. Thomas. Virgin Islands Waste Management Authority enforcement officers were assisting with the operation.
Officers noticed an Acura TSX with windshield tint extending below the AS-1 line and initiated a traffic stop, according to an official VIPD press release. Police say Smith failed to follow directions to pull over and instead fled at a high rate of speed.
Special Operations and Waste Management Authority officers began searching for the Acura and later located it around the Bluebeard’s Castle Hotel. While pursuing Smith, police say officers encountered him, and he fired a shot at them before they engaged him and took him into custody without further incident.
A Gun Fell?
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During a subsequent pat-down, police say a Glock 21 .45-caliber handgun fell from Smith’s person. VIPD says the firearm was equipped with what appeared to be a firearm-conversion device.
Smith was arrested on multiple charges, including attempted murder, first-degree assault, third-degree assault, illegal discharge of a firearm during a crime of violence, and unlawful possession of ammunition within 1,000 feet of a school. Police also listed unlawful possession of a firearm capable of conversion and a conversion kit, felon in possession of a firearm, and other offenses among the charges stemming from the incident.
VIPD says Smith was advised of his Miranda rights before being booked, processed, and turned over to the U.S. Virgin Islands Bureau of Corrections. We contacted the Bureau of Corrections seeking additional jail records concerning Smith, but were directed back to the Virgin Islands Police Department’s press release, leaving no additional publicly provided custody information to add at the time of writing.
We Covered a Similar Stop Before
This isn’t the first traffic stop we’ve covered where police say a driver added gunfire to an already dangerous attempt to get away. In July, the Atmore Police Department in Alabama said a driver fled an attempted traffic stop and fired a weapon from inside his vehicle while officers pursued him.
That pursuit continued until the fleeing vehicle reached the end of Martin Luther King Drive and drove into a field, where it became stuck. Rather than immediately sending officers searching blindly after the suspect, police deployed a drone that eventually located him and was even used to instruct him to surrender.
Fortunately, that incident ended without anyone being injured, and the suspect was ultimately taken into custody without officers using force. Smith’s case began with an entirely different traffic violation, but both encounters show just how quickly police say a routine attempt to pull over a vehicle can become something considerably more dangerous once a gun enters the equation.