VOLUSIA COUNTY, Fla. – A man suspected of burglarizing a Deltona home and threatening a neighbor with a knife was arrested Thursday after attempting to flee through the woods, according to the Volusia County Sheriff’s Office.
Christopher Sosa, 33, is accused of breaking a window and cutting a screen door at a home along Azora Drive in order to force his way inside, the sheriff’s office said in a statement. Deputies responded to the home around 1:45 p.m., reporting that Sosa had pointed a knife at and threatened to kill a neighbor who had come outside.
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Deputies learned Sosa had been a prior, unwanted guest at the home for about three weeks, allegedly not paying rent or contributing in any way during that time period, the statement reads. Over time, the home’s residents had told Sosa multiple times that he was no longer welcome, deputies added.
Though Sosa had left by the time the sheriff’s office arrived, a deputy saw him driving along Saxon Boulevard, according to the statement. Sosa drove away at high speed when the deputy attempted to make a traffic stop, at one point hitting the bumper of another deputy who tried to prevent him from entering the parking area of Pine Ridge High School, the sheriff’s office said. While driving south on Howland Boulevard, a deputy deployed stop sticks and punctured one of Sosa’s rear tires.
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The car later became disabled and was abandoned on the side of State Road 415 as Sosa ran into the woods, deputies said. A citizen aided the sheriff’s office’s search by reporting the sight of a man leaving the woods near the Seminole County line, and Sosa was eventually arrested after being seen by law enforcement again around 4 p.m., now in the brush about 400 yards west of SR-415.
Sosa was taken into custody without further incident. Body camera video shows he was made to ride in the bed of a pickup truck out of the undeveloped area.
Sosa faces charges of burglary of an occupied dwelling, aggravated assault with a deadly weapon, fleeing or attempting to elude law enforcement, resisting an officer without violence, armed trespassing on school property and two counts of criminal mischief, deputies said.
As of Friday morning, Sosa was still in Volusia County Branch Jail on a $45,500 bond amount, according to the sheriff’s office.
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