Just when you think a pony car story is going to end with a track day or a weekend cruise, a Florida driver reminds everyone why insurance rates in the Sunshine State are what they are. In the early hours of Tuesday morning, a black Ford Mustang became the centerpiece of a multi-county police pursuit on I-75 near Tampa, ending not with a dramatic tactical maneuver, but with a curb, a tree, and a K-9 unit waiting patiently at the edge of some woods.
According to the Florida Highway Patrol, a trooper clocked the Mustang doing an estimated 122 mph during what was supposed to be routine overnight traffic enforcement. The driver’s response to the flashing lights? He turned the Mustang’s lights off and kept going. At that point, the traffic stop was no longer a traffic stop.
What followed was a chase that crossed county lines, with the Mustang eventually exiting I-75 onto State Route 54 in Pasco County before the driver steered into a residential neighborhood, and the car met its fate against a curb and then a tree. If the goal was to lose the troopers, the tree had other plans.
The driver, identified as 32-year-old Kenny Bell, wasn’t done yet. He bailed on the car and ran into the woods on foot, which is a bold strategy when law enforcement has already called for backup and a K-9. Moments later, Bell emerged from the tree line with his hands up. The dog had not even been deployed yet.
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What the Troopers Found When They Searched the Mustang
Once Bell was in custody, troopers turned their attention to the car. The report noted a strong smell of marijuana coming from Bell and the vehicle, along with bloodshot eyes and slowed speech. Bell declined to provide a urine sample, which is not exactly the move of someone with nothing to hide.
Inside the Mustang, troopers discovered roughly 15 pounds of marijuana, a quantity that puts this well past the “personal use” conversation. They also found cash, scales, and paraphernalia. In Florida, possession of more than 20 grams of marijuana with intent to distribute carries serious felony charges, and 15 pounds falls considerably above that threshold.
The Charges Bell Is Now Facing
Bell was taken into custody and charged with DUI, refusal to submit to chemical testing, possession of a controlled substance with intent to distribute, possession of drug paraphernalia, and aggravated fleeing and eluding.
That last charge is worth noting: under Florida law, aggravated fleeing and eluding, particularly at high speeds, is a third-degree felony on its own. Stack that alongside the drug distribution charge, and the legal picture becomes complicated quickly.
Why the Mustang Choice Deserves a Moment of Reflection
Car enthusiasts will note the particular irony of this story. The Ford Mustang has been one of the most iconic American performance cars since its debut in 1964. It’s a nameplate that carries genuine heritage, and the current S650 generation, released for 2024, is a legitimate driver’s car with real engineering behind it. Ford invested decades of development into making the Mustang something worth driving the right way.
Using one to haul 15 pounds of marijuana at 122 mph in the middle of the night is, to put it plainly, a waste of a good car. Florida’s highways have also been the site of enough high-speed tragedies that law enforcement takes these pursuits seriously, and for good reason. Triple-digit speeds in traffic, with lights off, in a residential area afterward, represent genuine risk to anyone else who happened to be on the road.
A Reminder That Speed Gets You Noticed
The sequence of events here is straightforward. A trooper was doing traffic enforcement. A Mustang went by doing 122. Everything after that was a predictable chain reaction. Performance cars attract attention on public roads, particularly at those speeds, and no amount of horsepower helps once the tree wins the argument.
Bell’s situation now sits with the courts, but the car’s story ended in a Pasco County neighborhood, nose-first into the landscaping. It’s the kind of ending that nobody who actually loves these cars wants to see.