What began as a routine traffic stop quickly turned into a messy confrontation when a teen driver was arrested for fleeing and eluding law enforcement — something she insists she never did.
The encounter started when an officer approached the girl after witnessing her speeding past multiple cars, crossing double yellow lines, and allegedly accelerating as the officer stepped into the road with his hands raised.
As soon as the officer made contact, he asked a simple question:
“Do I look familiar?”
The confused teen answered, “Kind of… yeah.”
But the officer didn’t waste time.
“Turn around. Put your hands behind your back. You’re under arrest for fleeing and eluding law enforcement.”
The teen immediately protested.
“What? I walked out—”
But the officer cut in:
“I told you to stop, and you rapidly accelerated away from me. It’s on body cam.”
Still insisting she did nothing wrong, the teen tried to argue that she was driving the speed limit.
The officer didn’t budge:
“You passed multiple cars into double yellows. You didn’t brake, no lights, nothing. You just gunned it.”
Desperate, the teen asked:
“Can I talk to someone else?”
The officer replied calmly:
“It was just me there. But my supervisor is on the way — you’re more than welcome to talk to him.”
The teen was told to sit down while they waited.
When another officer arrived, the first one summarized the situation:
She was passing cars illegally, the officer stepped into the roadway clearly in uniform, and she ignored commands to stop.
“That’s fleeing and eluding all day long,” he said.
The teen couldn’t believe it:
“So we can go to court for this?”
“Absolutely,” the officer responded.
He then added something that made her face drop:
“I’m also towing your car and putting it on a 30-day hold.”
Shocked and frustrated, the teen grabbed her phone and began explaining the situation to someone on a call, insisting that the officer “wasn’t even behind her” and had no lights on.
But the officer corrected her instantly:
“I don’t need lights. I’m a fully uniformed law enforcement officer telling you to stop.”
Another supervisor eventually came on the phone:
“Hey there, it’s Officer Rier with the New Smyrna Beach Police Department.”
The teen repeated her version, but by then, the damage was done.
She had been arrested, charged, and her car impounded — all because she chose to challenge an officer’s command instead of stopping.
What she called “just passing a car” turned into a criminal charge that will now follow her to court.
