iStock(APOPKA, Fla.) — A Florida deputy was dragged twice by a suspect during a routine traffic stop, police video shows.
The Seminole County Sheriff’s deputy had pulled over the suspect, Apopka resident Rocky Rudolph Jr., 38, on County Road 46-A near Interstate 4 over his tinted windows Saturday morning, Sheriff Dennis Lemma told reporters during a press conference.
The two were engaging in a routine traffic stop, having a “normal” conversation, Lemma said.
It quickly escalated, however, after the deputy smelled marijuana and asked Rudolph to turn the car off.
That’s when he allegedly became “combative” — at one point “yelling and screaming” — before he put the car in drive with the deputy attached to the window, Lemma said.
After the deputy was dragged at least 20 feet, he then pulled his firearm out and ordered Rudolph to raise his hands and turn the car off, Lemma said.
Rudolph then drove forward again, and the deputy fired his gun into the car, hitting Rudolph in the leg, Lemma said. The deputy was thrown from the vehicle just before it drove onto the highway.
The incident was captured both on the deputy’s body camera and his vehicle’s dashboard camera.
Rudolph fled on foot after losing control of the car, Lemma said. Investigators spent about eight hours looking for him before they located him in a car in the Longwood community, Lemma said.
He was then taken to the hospital and treated for the wound on his leg. The officer was treated at a local hospital and released.
Rudolph has been charged with attempted murder of a law enforcement officer, according to the sheriff’s office.
Rudolph has a history of fleeing from law enforcement and has been charged with 32 felonies in the past several years, ABC Orlando affiliate WFTV reported.
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