BY DAN HILDEBRAN
Monitor Editor
BROOKER— Bradford deputies arrested a 37-year-old Gainesville man after he fled from them in a stolen vehicle and crashed the Mercury Zepher into a yard where children were playing.
Daniel Smith Griffis was arrested by Bradford deputies on Jan. 4 for hit and run, criminal mischief with property damage, dealing in stolen property, resisting an officer, possession of drugs, possession of drug equipment, reckless driving and driving with a suspended or revoked license.
According to an arrest report, Deputy Glenn Ward Jr. spotted Griffis travelling on County Road 18 at a high rate of speed.
When he attempted to stop the car, it accelerated to 90 mph, then made an abrupt left turn into a residence about three miles east of Brooker.
Ward wrote that Griffis drove through the yard and into a wooded area in the back of the property before abandoning the Mercury and fleeing on foot.
“There were two children playing in the yard of this residence at the time the suspect was driving in such a reckless manner,” wrote Ward. “The children were not struck but a small tree in the yard was knocked over (and) pulled out of the ground.”
K-9 units from the sheriff’s office and Union Correctional Institution later located Griffis in the woods.
Deputies later found methamphetamine in the vehicle, along with the identification and ATM cards of a woman.
During an interview later at the sheriff’s office, Griffis told deputies he bought the car three days earlier for 12 grams of methamphetamine, then cut off the vehicle’s catalytic converter and sold it for $25.
He also revealed that the woman was with him during the chase and crash.
When asked about the whereabouts of his passenger, Griffis replied that she was still in the woods because she could not keep up with him when he ran.
