St. Johns County aerial and bodycam shows hours-long manhunt for fugitive who fled from traffic stop
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St. Johns County, FL - The St. Johns County Sheriff’s office released new footage Wednesday of the traffic stop that turned into an hours-long manhunt almost a week before.
The manhunt ended with Tomal Bowe, a Bahamian fugitive, being captured by sheriff’s deputies.
First Coast News Crime and Safety Expert Ken Jefferson watched the footage and said that there’s nothing routine about a traffic stop; You never know what’s going to happen.
Jefferson said people need to know they can’t outrun law enforcement.
Around 3:45 p.m. on Dec. 4, St. Johns County deputies stopped a driver on I-95 near Mile Marker 331, but instead of obeying the officer’s orders, the driver pulled off.
The driver, later identified as Bowe, led deputies on a chase, initially driving the wrong way on the highway. Deputies executed a pit maneuver in the area of International Golf Parkway, causing Bowe to crash into a guard rail. Then the driver got out of the car, jumped the guardrail and ran across the interstate.
The chaos escalated, and deputies said he ended up stealing a van from a nearby business complex, continuing his escape attempt. He later lost that vehicle after stop sticks were deployed on U.S. 1, and fled into the woods along the highway.
That’s when the manhunt grew, with air and K-9 units coming to assist.
“This guy didn't look like he was nervous or scared," Jefferson said. "He looked like he had in his mind, ‘I'm gonna get out of here, and I'm gonna get away,”
The sheriff's office said 33-year-old Tomal Bowe was wanted for aggravated robbery in the Bahamas. He was tracked through the woods with aerial infrared cameras and taken into custody with the help of a K9. By the time he was in handcuffs, Bowe was barely clothed and covered in scratches from the foliage.