A Florida store owner told police he was angry when he chased a suspected burglar and deliberately struck him with his car at approximately 30 mph, knocking the 14-year-old off his electric bicycle.
After the collision, the owner made a U-turn and returned to look for the rider, but said he could not find him. He went back to his business and contacted police about a suspected burglary without mentioning that he had hit someone.
Nearly an hour passed before an officer found the teenager unresponsive in a roadside ditch. He had suffered multiple skull fractures and other serious injuries.
West Melbourne police arrested Kavan Vishnubhai Patel, 32, on October 13, 2026, charging him with aggravated battery and leaving the scene of a crash involving serious bodily injury. According to the West Melbourne Police Department, the injured teenager was the same rider Patel reported seeing flee his store after the burglary alarm, although the available records do not establish whether he entered the business or stole anything.
A Burglary Alarm Leads to a Search
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At approximately 4:21 a.m., Patel received an alarm notification about an attempted break-in at his store on South Wickham Road. He drove over from his nearby home and found a male standing outside with an electric bicycle. The store’s front glass door had been broken, and the rider fled west on Sheridan Road when he noticed Patel.
Patel followed him to Coconut Grove Avenue, where he later admitted intentionally striking him with his Subaru at approximately 30 mph, knocking him off the bicycle. He told investigators he made a U-turn and returned to look for the rider but could not find him, so he went back to his store and contacted police about the suspected burglary.
Officers arrived within four minutes of the 4:32 a.m. dispatch. Patel told them about the broken door and the fleeing rider, claiming he had followed him but lost sight of him. He did not disclose the collision, leaving officers to search for the suspected burglar with assistance from other agencies, a K-9 unit and a drone.
At approximately 5:25 a.m., an officer found the 14-year-old unresponsive in a roadside ditch. The teenager, whom police identified as the rider who fled Patel’s store, had suffered multiple skull fractures and other serious injuries. He was transported to Holmes Regional Medical Center in critical condition.
Although the broken door and the rider’s flight prompted the burglary investigation, the available records do not establish whether the teenager entered the business or stole anything. Police attributed the nearly hour-long delay in finding him to Patel’s failure to stop, render aid, or tell responding officers about the collision.
The Evidence Leads Back to the Store Owner
Investigators examining the collision obtained surveillance footage from a nearby property on Coconut Grove Avenue. The recording captured sounds consistent with tires and an impact, followed by a vehicle entering the camera’s view and striking a mailbox and trash cans outside a residence. Police determined that the initial impact involved the electric bicycle rider.
Officers also encountered Patel examining damage to the front passenger side of his black 2016 Subaru outside the store. With his vehicle matching the description of one potentially involved in the collision, detectives questioned him further.
During a later conversation, when his wife was no longer present, Patel admitted that he had intentionally hit the rider, according to the affidavit. He acknowledged that he should have called police rather than striking him and told detectives he had been angry at the time.
The Charges
Police arrested Patel at 8:51 a.m. on October 13, and he was booked into the Brevard County Jail later that day. He was initially held without bond on charges of aggravated battery under Florida Statute 784.045(1)(a)1 and leaving the scene of a crash involving serious bodily injury under Florida Statute 316.027(2)(b).
Florida law permits certain uses of force to protect property, but a suspected burglary does not automatically justify using potentially deadly force against someone fleeing the scene. Investigators say Patel pursued the teenager away from his business and intentionally struck him with the Subaru after the encounter outside the store had ended.
Whether the boy committed a burglary is a separate question from whether Patel’s use of force and subsequent departure from the collision scene violated the law.
All parties are presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty in a court of law.