A suspicious vehicle led Okaloosa County Sheriff’s Office deputies on a chase along Highway 98 Monday evening before deputies called off the pursuit due to heavier traffic and the driver’s speeds.
The driver has now been identified as 30-year old Laderick Sankey of Montgomery Alabama man and the OCSO has applied for warrants on charges of fleeing and eluding, driving with a suspended license, resisting arrest without violence and traffic violations.
The incident began when the OCSO received a complaint of a suspicious car in the parking lot underneath the Emerald Coast Convention Center on Okaloosa Island around 5:30 p.m.
A deputy who approached the car noticed the black Nissan Pathfinder did not have a tag. Sankey told the deputy he and the 17 year old girl from Montgomery in the passenger seat were just checking out the area. The deputy ran a check and learned Sankey had a suspended license and the teen had been reported as a missing juvenile out of Alabama. When the deputy asked the girl to get out of the car, Sankey sped off onto Highway 98. Deputies began to pursue the car towards Destin and a spike strip was placed near the Marler Bridge however Sankey was able to avoid it. He continued down Highway 98 through Destin into Walton County, disregarding the safety of other cars, leading the OCSO to end the pursuit and issue a regional “Be On the Lookout” or BOLO.
Deputies were able to determine that the missing teen was not abducted, but apparently ran away from a group home with Sankey, who case officers in Alabama say is her boyfriend. The OCSO has applied for a warrant for the teen on a charge of resisting an officer.
Anyone with information on their whereabouts is asked to contact the Okaloosa County Sheriff’s Office at 850-651-7400 or Emerald Coast Crime Stoppers at 850-863-TIPS.
