Florida Highway Patrol ends chase on CR 218 with PIT maneuver

MAXVILLE – The Florida Highway Patrol performed a PIT maneuver to end a chase that involved a man driving without headlights at 3:36 a.m. on Sunday, June 21, from Clay Hill Elementary to State Road 21.

Thomas Anthony Blackburn, 36, of Daytona Beach, was charged with two counts of fleeing and eluding law enforcement with lights and siren active after a Clay County Sheriff’s Office deputy attempted to stop a white Jeep on CR 218 without its headlights on. As the deputy approached the vehicle, the Jeep took off, according to the arrest report. The deputy gave chase, but he quickly suspended it when he lost contact with the Jeep.

The Jeep was spotted again on CR 218 and the chase resumed until the sheriff’s office’s watch commander canceled it for safety concerns. FHP was waiting for Blackburn at SR 21, and the agency quickly ended the chase by spinning the Jeep by turning it with a PIT maneuver.

Blackburn was taken to the Clay County Jail, where he is being held with a $267,514 bond.

Man goes from Duval jail to face 2023 Clay County drug charges

ORANGE PARK – The Clay County Sheriff’s Office arrested a man after he was released from the Duval County Jail on Thursday, June 18, they accused of selling and trafficking methamphetamine and fentanyl to a confidential source in 2023.

Josh Dewitt Landon, 45, of Jacksonville, was charged with selling heroin and fentanyl after CCSO said he rode his motorcycle to a predetermined location to sell 2.7 grams of fentanyl to the source on April 19, 2023.

Landon’s bond was set at $100,006. His next court appearance is scheduled for July 21.

CCSO convince man to surrender who was shooting gun into ground

FLEMING ISLAND – The Clay County Sheriff’s Office’s Crisis Negotiations and SWAT teams successfully detained a man who was reportedly shooting a gun into the ground in his backyard Thursday night.

James Reed Garner, 45, was safely taken into custody without incident and he was charged with two counts of discharging a firearm in public after CCSO talked with him on his cellphone and convinced him to surrender.

No injuries were reported. His bond was set at $50,004.