A Florida man accused of turning a school-zone traffic stop into a crash involving two cars and a school bus carrying 19 children was already wanted in the same county on a fleeing-and-eluding warrant, according to the Sumter County Sheriff’s Office.
Deputies said 23-year-old Qahiem Williams was driving 17 mph over the posted speed limit near The Villages Intermediate Center Tuesday morning when a deputy turned around and activated his emergency lights. Williams allegedly accelerated instead of stopping.
What followed ended with Williams’ Nissan striking two vehicles stopped at a traffic light, colliding head-on with a school bus, and Williams running from the wreck toward a nearby Walmart, according to the sheriff’s office. None of the 19 children aboard the bus were injured.
Williams was caught shortly afterward. After being medically cleared, he was taken to the Sumter County Detention Center, where he remained Wednesday after a judge told him he would be held without bond, according to FOX 35 Orlando.
School Zone
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The incident began at about 7:20 a.m. Aug. 25 while a Sumter County deputy was conducting traffic enforcement near The Villages Intermediate Center.
According to an arrest-report account obtained by WFLA, the deputy saw a black Nissan Sentra traveling west at high speed through a posted 20 mph school zone.
The Sumter County Sheriff’s Office said Williams was traveling 17 mph above the posted limit on County Road 466 near Tatonka Terrace.
When the deputy made a U-turn and activated his emergency lights to initiate a traffic stop, deputies said Williams accelerated.
The arrest report says the Nissan began weaving through traffic before reaching vehicles stopped at a red light.
It struck two of them and became wedged between the vehicles, according to the report, but continued moving forward.
The Nissan then veered right and collided head-on with the Sumter County school bus.
Still Going
The sheriff’s office said the earlier impacts damaged the Nissan’s axle before it struck the bus.
There were 19 students aboard. All of them escaped injury, according to the sheriff’s office.
Williams allegedly got out of the Nissan after the crash and continued his attempt to get away on foot, heading toward a nearby Walmart.
Video released from the incident shows deputies pursuing a shirtless man before taking him into custody.
“Why would you run, man?” a deputy asks after the arrest, according to the video account reported by WFLA.
Williams was medically cleared and transported to the Sumter County Detention Center.
Familiar Charge
The traffic stop was not Williams’ first pending encounter with the fleeing-and-eluding allegation.
The sheriff’s office said Williams had two active Sumter County warrants when deputies arrested him Tuesday. One was for fleeing and eluding, while the other involved driving with a suspended license.
Sheriff Pat Breeden said Williams had “a history of this type of behavior.”
“I have zero tolerance when it comes to actions that put our children’s lives in danger,” Breeden said in a statement. “This suspect has a history of this type of behavior and our community is safer with him off our streets.”
Williams was booked on charges including fleeing and eluding law enforcement, driving with a suspended license, possession of marijuana, and leaving the scene of a crash, according to the sheriff’s office.
FOX 35 reported that Williams appeared before a judge Wednesday and was told he would remain jailed without bond.
He remained at the Sumter County Detention Center as of the station’s Wednesday update.