By Matt Bruce
The News-Journal
PALM COAST, Fla. — A Flagler County sheriff’s deputy received some assistance in detaining a Palm Coast man during a morning commute this week.
He got his backup from a pair of passing motorists who stopped to help when they saw him struggling with the suspect.
Morgan Byrnes, 27, of Fariston Place, was charged with resisting arrest with violence, battery on a law enforcement officer and possession of marijuana. He was jailed Tuesday and released on bail later that afternoon.
https://www.facebook.com/daytonabeachnewsjournal/videos/10156292952477137/
The arrest followed a safety traffic stop Tuesday morning along Old Kings Road North near Frontier Drive, according to an arrest report. During the stop, Deputy Kyle Gaddie said he detected the scent of marijuana and ordered Byrnes out of the car so he could search it.
A struggle ensued as Gaddie tried to detain Byrnes and pat him down to remove a pocketknife from his pocket. In his report, Gaddie noted that Byrnes resisted orders to put his hands behind his back 12 times as he tried to handcuff him. Body cam video shows Byrnes refute allegations that he had drugs in his car and demanding that a canine be summoned to sniff out any narcotics to warrant the search.
“I am resisting arrest for an illegal search and seizure,” Byrnes said. “You are illegally searching and seizing me; I do not have anything in my car. Let me go! I didn’t do anything.”
Two men driving along Old Kings Road at the time saw the struggle and pulled over to help Gaddie. Leonardo Chumaceiro, a firefighter with the Palm Coast Fire Department for the past 31 years, was driving from his assigned station on Old Kings when he saw the struggle and made a U-turn to intervene.
“The deputy had him kind of under control, he was trying to put the cuffs on, and he (Byrnes) was just jumping and screaming and stuff,” Chumaceiro said. “I just grabbed one arm and pinned him down to the trunk of his car and the other guy did the same thing. And the deputy, at that time, he was able to cuff him.”
After Byrnes was secure, Gaddie searched his car and found a plastic baggie containing about five grams of marijuana in a center console, reports state.
“I knew it,” Gaddie said upon finding the contraband. Then, turning his attention back to Byrnes he said: “All that for a little weed?”
The Sheriff’s Office posted a screenshot of the arrest to the agency’s Facebook page Thursday afternoon and saluted the two Samaritans, who had yet to be identified at that time. Sheriff Rick Staly thanked the men for their help.
“In my mind, I think most people that could would’ve done that,” Chumaceiro said. “Being in the fire service, I’m working alongside the deputies. Those guys always help me; they help me do CPRs. So there’s no difference. We have to take care of each other.”
©2017 The News-Journal, Daytona Beach, Fla.