DELTONA, Fla. – The Volusia Sheriff’s Office on Tuesday responded to a viral video showing one of its deputies engaged in a brief foot chase with a man in Deltona.
On TikTok, the video has over 4 million views and more than 563,000 likes at the time of this report. The sheriff’s office on Twitter posted an edited video combining the 15-second clip with body-worn camera footage recorded from the perspective of the deputy in pursuit.
[TRENDING: Shark attacks, kills woman who was on cruise that set sail from Port Canaveral | Kennedy Space Center offers limited-time ticket deal for select Central Florida counties | Become a News 6 Insider (it’s free!)]
See the video in the embedded Tweet below.
This 15 second video got 3.7M views on TikTok
— Volusia Sheriff (@VolusiaSheriff) September 7, 2022
but here's what happened next.
Cleveland Rahymes Jr., 42
Warrants: Trafficking in meth, trafficking in cocaine, fleeing or attempting to elude
New charges: Resisting an officer w/out violence, driving while license suspended/revoked pic.twitter.com/O0RkzzLcw6
The video shows Deputy Caleb Jones running after a man, who investigators identified as 42-year-old Cleveland Rahymes Jr., through a Deltona neighborhood on Courtland Boulevard near Cabot Court.
Investigators said Rahymes ran away from Jones after the deputy pulled him over for not wearing his seatbelt.
“That’s just something I do. I try to be proactive and seatbelts are a big thing, a big safety hazard,” Jones said.
After Rahymes was pulled over, Jones said he ran for “a half of a quarter of a mile.”
Less than a minute later, deputies said Rahymes slowed up and surrendered. Jones said at that point he tried to place Rahymes in handcuffs because he wasn’t following his commands and that’s when video shows Rahymes running away.
“Listen to what officers tell you... to do. If it’s a mix up, it can get straightened out, as long as you just comply,” he said.
Rahymes was arrested and faces charges of methamphetamine and cocaine trafficking, as well as fleeing or attempting to elude law enforcement. Deputies said Rahymes also faces charges of resisting an officer without violence and driving with a suspended or revoked license, stemming from the recorded altercation.
News 6 stopped by a listed address for Rahymes to see if his family or anyone he knew had anything to say about his arrest and no one answered.
Get today’s headlines in minutes with Your Florida Daily: