Headline Surfer photos by Henry Frederick / VCSO deputies take a woman into custody just after 4 p.m. on SR 44 near Old Mission Road after her ex-husband reported her as being suicidal. A little girl in the SUV was held off to the side by deputies who gave her a toy badge and a Happy Meal from the nearby McDonald's. A Sheriff's official said he could not confirm if the woman and the girl with her were related.
NEW SMYRNA BEACH -- Volusia County Sheriff's deputies pulled a 34-year-old woman from her stopped SUV during the height of early evening commuter traffic on State Road 44 just west of the intersection of Old Mission Road that brought vehicular traffic to a crawl in all four directions for about 20 minutes.
The stop was made at 4:17 p.m. when the woman was pulled over in her Jeep Cherokee and physically removed from the vehicle, handcuffed, and put her in the back of a patrol car.
Deputies also lifted out a little girl who was seated in the front passenger side and kept off to the side for about 15 minutes. She was given a toy badge which was attached to her shirt and given a Happy Meal from the nearby McDonald's.
Deputies also lifted out a little girl who was seated in the front passenger side and kept off to the side for about 15 minutes. She was given a toy badge which was attached to her shirt and given a Happy Meal from the nearby McDonald's.
While some motorists thought this might me a child abduction, one such motorist who inquired said she was told by a deputy, "This is not what you think."
It turns out, deputies had been looking for the woman since mid-day when her ex-husband went to the Sheriff's District 5 office on Canal Street and reported she was suicidal, Sheriff's spokesman Brandon Haught told Headline Surfer in a brief phone inquiry while the 24/7 Internet newspaper was on scene.
Haught said he didn't have any information as to whether the little girl -- who appeared to be between the ages of 5 and 8, was the woman's daughter or if the ex-husband was the father. The girl was released to a family member just after 4:30 p.m.
A Sheriff's deputy inspects the SUV driven by a woman reported as suicidal Friday on SR 44 near Old Mission Road in New Smyrna Beach.
There were some sense moments when a bunch of Sheriff's patrol cars converged on the vehicles with sirens blaring.
"They pulled this woman right out of the Jeep and threw her to the ground," said a homeless man on a bicycle.
Haught, the Sheriff's spokesman, said deputies had been trying to track the vehicle through a series of pings in the woman's cell phone, but it was off for several hours before she suddenly turned it on and they were able to track her down, with the aid of a Sheriff's helicopter, which spotted the SUV.
That's when deputies converged on the vehicle after surrounding it in heavy traffic with some deputies crossing over in opposite lane traffic that had stopped and pulled over with the sirens.
Haught said the woman was Baker-Acted, meaning she was taken into custody and committed to Halifax Hospital's psychiatric ward where people deemed a danger to themselves or others can be committed involuntarily for up to 72 hours under Florida statutes.