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Friday, March 29, 2024

Truck thief who wanted ‘one last cigarette’ apologizes for high-speed chase

Daniel Eugene Bolden

A man who led deputies on a high-speed chase in a stolen pickup truck apologized for putting lives at risk and said he fled because he wanted to smoke “one last cigarette” before being arrested.

Daniel Eugene Bolden, 43, of 2822 NE Jacksonville Road in Ocala, is being held in the Marion County Jail on $16,000 bond after being arrested late Tuesday night.

Bolden was charged with fleeing and eluding law enforcement with lights and sirens active, resisting an officer without violence and criminal mischief with property damage of under $200 in relation to the chase. He was also charged with grand theft of a motor vehicle, burglary of an unoccupied structure and two counts of petit theft in relation to the theft of one vehicle and the license tag from another.

At approximately 10:30 p.m., a Marion County sheriff’s deputy was notified by radio of a possible stolen vehicle being followed by detectives. The vehicle was later identified as a white Ford F-150 pickup that was reported stolen on Feb. 9, according to the sheriff’s office report.

The deputy responded to the 5000 block of NW 100th Street, where detectives and a K-9 deputy were conducting a felony traffic stop due to the suspicion of the truck being stolen. Detectives gave commands for Bolden to shut off the truck and exit the vehicle. But Bolden shut the door and drove away westbound on NW 100th Street at a high rate of speed and a pursuit was initiated, the report says.

Bolden drove into a ditch and made several evasive maneuvers while reaching speeds of up to 100 mph before detectives successfully deployed “stop sticks” that flattened three of the vehicle’s four tires, the report says.

After an approximately 8-mile pursuit by vehicles from multiple agencies with lights and sirens activated, Bolden purposely drove off the left side of the road and crashed into a wooden farm fence on NW Highway 225 in Reddick. Bolden got out of the vehicle and fled on foot before being apprehended by a deputy and his K-9 partner “Duder,” the report said.

The owner of the fence estimated the damage at around $200. After Bolden was in custody, deputies confirmed that both the vehicle and tag were stolen, according to the report.

While being escorted out of the woods, Bolden said, “Sorry about all the lives I put at risk.” While being taken to Timber Ridge Medical Center to have his dog bite wounds treated, he spontaneously stated, “All you had to say was dog! I know the truck was stolen and all I wanted was one last cigarette and I knew y’all weren’t gonna let me smoke one,” the report says.

At the jail, Bolden admitted to stealing the truck from the Good Shepherd Cemetery and stealing the tag from a different white Ford pickup and attaching it to the stolen vehicle to throw off law enforcement. He said he knew he was being pursued by law enforcement and the reason he tried to avoid capture was because he wanted to smoke one last cigarette, the report said.

Bolden will appear in Marion County Court on May 15 to answer to one of the larceny charges, and June 4 for the rest of the charges.