KEY LARGO, Florida — A South Carolina man has been charged with fleeing authorities in the Florida Keys in a car stolen out of Maine.
Nicholas Scott-Clayton Cascario, 31, was arrested Saturday on charges of grand theft and fleeing and eluding police. He was being held at the Monroe County jail as of Tuesday morning, according to The Miami Herald. No bond information was immediately available.
An electronic plate reader pinged authorities about 1 a.m. Saturday, alerting them to a stolen car that had entered the county, according to the county sheriff’s office. A deputy soon spotted the car heading south on U.S. Route 1 and turned on his sirens and lights, but the car continued traveling south, sheriff’s spokesman Adam Linhardt said.
Officers with the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission and Florida Highway Patrol joined the chase, and deputies miles down the highway set up two sets of road spikes, each popping two of the fleeing car’s tires, the sheriff’s office said. But the driver of the stolen car, later identified as Cascario, continued to drive the rims of the vehicle, only stopping when he lost control of the car and it came to rest on the shoulder of the highway, according to the sheriff’s office.
The driver, Cascario, was arrested and refused to tell authorities why he was in the area or provide any information about himself, Linhardt said. It’s unclear if Cascario has a lawyer.