He’s confined to a wheelchair, but deputies said that didn’t stop an Ocala man from leading them on a three-county chase with a car he stole from a dealership.
When Shamal Battice rolled up to Ford of Ocala in his orange wheelchair Wednesday and asked a salesman to show him some cars, that salesman obliged.
The 28-year-old is paraplegic and despite having no use of his legs, Ocala Police said Battice told that salesman he wanted help getting in the driver seat of a 2009 Pontiac G6.
They say once he got inside, a grand theft auto heist was underway. He locked the doors and then whipped out a collapsible cane.
Police said he used that cane to push down on the gas and brake pedals. He then sped off with the $13,000 car.
That led to the high-speed chase involving sheriff's deputies in Marion, Alachua and finally Bradford County.
But they said none of them were able to catch up to him, as he put the pedal to his metal cane.
Finally, he was spotted at a gas station some 50 miles from where his illegal test drive began, begging customers for gas money.
Police said they authorized the dealership to deliver his wheelchair back to him in exchange for the keys to the car.
Battice is in jail without bond for charges of grand theft auto and fleeing and eluding deputies.