OFF THE WIRE
By Arelis R. Hernández, Orlando Sentinel
October 20,
2012
A motorcyclist suffered a broken leg and head injuries after a driver
fleeing from police blew through an intersection and struck him early Saturday
near a Mount Dora flea market.
The victim was airlifted to Orlando
Regional Medical after the a older-model four-door Chevrolet hit him at the
intersection of Lincoln Avenue and U.S. Highway 441, said Mount Dora police Lt.
Robert Bell. Police arrested the driver, Michael Allen Reams, 31, of
Zellwood.
Bell said police were first alerted to Reams, a registered
sexual predator, when he ran through a stop sign on Highland Street and Grant
Avenue about 9:20 a.m. and continued to Lincoln Avenue.
A motorcycle
officer noted the vehicle was speeding, turned around and radioed other
officers. The vehicle reached speeds of up to 100 miles per hour when it reached
U.S. 441 near the entrance of the Renninger's flea market, where people were
arriving for a monster-truck race. Bell said that's when Reams ran the red light
and collided with the motorcyclist.
Reams drove about a mile north on
U.S. 441 and officers followed into Eustis. Police there set up a perimeter. A
Hampton Inn employee flagged down officers, saying they saw a man abandon his
vehicle in the parking lot and run into the woods behind the hotel. Police later
found Reams in the parking lot of the Bristol Lakes Apartments off Limit
Avenue.
Reams was driving with a suspended license, Bell said. He
told police that's why he fled but later said police had the wrong person, Bell
said. He was charged with hit-and-run with serious bodily injury, fleeing police
and driving with a suspended license.
He was convicted of sexual battery
of a minor and lewd activity with a child in Orange County in 2001. He was
released from prison in June 2010.
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