PORT ORANGE, Fla. (WFLA) — A Florida man was found hiding in a tree on Tuesday, two hours after allegedly fleeing Port Orange police.
Jonathan Kiser, 33, was accused of speeding away from police during an attempted traffic stop, according to a Facebook post from the Port Orange Police Department.
Police used stop sticks to damage the Nissan Maxima’s tires. A Volusia County Sheriff’s Office aerial unit found the vehicle in a backyard, where Kiser and his passenger, Kaitlyn McCartney, 31 abandoned it. McCartney was arrested nearby, according to Port Orange police. She was charged with resisting without violence, possession of paraphernalia, and a probation violation.
The nearby Edgewood Police Department’s K-9 unit was called to the area to search for Kiser. They found him hiding up a large oak tree about two hours later.
Body camera video showed officers telling Kiser to come down from the tree and warning him not to run away, or they would send the K-9 Drako after him. Kiser moved down toward the end of the branch, appearing to “run away in the tree,” as one officer described it over his radio.
“He’s literally in a tree right now, trying to climb it like Tarzan,” an officer said shortly before Kiser was caught on camera failing to swing from one branch to the other.
Kiser dropped to the ground after dangling from the branch for a few seconds and tried to run away from officers, but was subdued by K-9 Drako and his handler. He was taken to the Volusia County Jail, where he was charged with fleeing or attempting to elude police, driving with a suspended license, operating an unregistered motor vehicle, leaving the scene of a crash with property damage, and two counts of resisting police without violence.
