DAYTONA BEACH SHORES, Fla. (WSVN) — A South Florida man who carjacked a driver at gunpoint in Volusia County was caught by deputies hiding in the mangroves after a wild bailout into a river, and now the victim is recalling the moments his routine drive home turned into a life-threatening encounter.
Body camera video shows Volusia County Sheriff’s Office deputies searching through the mangroves of a river in Volusia County for 34-year-old Grant Hagood-James, Monday night.
“This is the sheriff’s office. You are under arrest. You need to crawl out to the boat officers or come to shore and surrender,” a deputy is heard telling the suspect,
Hagood-James a Fort Lauderdale resident, is accused in the armed carjacking.
His victim, who identified himself as Kyle, shared his story days later.
“I realized, you know, my life is in danger right now,” he said.
Kyle said he was trying to get home after dark when he saw a man waving him down on A1A in Daytona Beach Shores.
“He said he needed a ride, and after taking a look at him I thought, ‘This guy is sketchy.’ I said, ‘Nope,'” said Kyle. “And I started to pull forward, but he stayed with the window, and that’s when he said, ‘I need this.’ That’s when I realized he had a gun pointed at me.”
Kyle said the man took off with his car, along with his phone and wallet inside.
The victim said he flagged down the next car he saw.
“And the person actually stopped, the first car that came by,” he said.
Kyle said that driver let him use their phone to call 911.
While that information was coming in, Volusia County Sheriff Mike Chitwood said, another 911 call came from a restaurant in Port Orange, not far from where the carjacking happened.
“They’re calling and saying that a white male swam up to the restaurant on the Intracoastal, climbed in and ran through the restaurant, took his shirt off, ran back through the restaurant, goes back into the river and swam into the mangroves,” said Chitwood.
It led to a large response on the ground and by air that included four different agencies.
“We were able to locate this guy hiding in the mangroves,” said Chitwood.
Hagood-James was taken into custody. He’s now being charged with armed carjacking.
As for Kyle, he said he isn’t sure whether or not he’ll stop for someone on the side of the road again.
“It depends, because thankfully, the next person stopped for me when I needed help. But I’ll definitely be a little more cautious next time,” he said.
Authorities recovered Kyle’s car.
Hagood-James is being held without bond.
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