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Headline Surfer photos by Henry Frederick / VCSO deputies converge on an SUV on S.R. 44 just west of the the intersection with Old Mission Road to take a potentially suicidal woman into custody and discover she has a little girl with her.
NEW SMYRNA BEACH -- Like a lot of motorists passing through the busy intersection of Old Mission Road and State Road 44 on this particular Friday afternoon of Nov. 30, I saw a Volusia County Sheriff's Office helicopter circling above.
Then seemingly out of nowhere came a bunch of speeding Sheriff's squad cars with lights and sirens blaring, even crossing the medians against stopped traffic as they converged and boxed in an eastbound SUV.
It had come to a halt partly on the sidewalk of 44 just before the traffic light. The female driver was yanked out of her Jeep Cherokee and thrown to the ground on her stomach and cuffed. Lifted out of the front passenger seat by a deputy was a frightened little girl.
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Shown here is the Jeep Cherokee that deputies pulled the driver from after boxing her in partially on the sidewalk in front of the Walgreens Pharmacy on S.R. 44 in New Smyrna Beach.
The bottlenecked traffic in one of New Smyrna Beach's busiest of intersections began moving again a few minutes later at a snails' pace worsened by curiosity of the dramatic scene that had unfolded as several deputies stood with the little girl off to the side behind the Jeep and away from the cuffed woman now standing with other deputies in the raised median: Did the Sheriff's deputies foil a child kidnapping?
It might have seemed so at first, but appearances can be deceiving. A deputy told a woman parked in the lot: "This is not what you think."
As it turned out, the 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 just after 4:15 p.m.
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.
I couldn't help but notice how much care was given this little girl by these deputies, including one in plain clothes, who I hadn't seen before at crime scenes who didn't realize I was a reporter, though I had my laminated Sheriff's "working press" card hanging down on my chest, and took exception to my camera. He asked me to back away because he didn't want her to be frightened any more than she was already. I did so immediately without an exchange of words, going back even further than he had asked into the parking lot of the Walgreens.
What had drawn my curiosity was something on her shirt. Upon closer inspection of the shots in the camera was a toy badge. What impressed me even more was that a deputy had gone to the nearby McDonald's for a Happy Meal and soda for the shaken little girl whose tears disappeared.
Though, I had some great shots of this child's face, which really would have hit home with most people seeing them, I decided not to publish them. I didn't want this little girl's family to feel like she had been labeled or something like that. Same thing with the mother in the median. I had a great shot of her sad face with her black-rimmed eyeglasses and long hair. When she saw that I had the camera on her, I could sense she was near tears.
Though, I had some great shots of this child's face, which really would have hit home with most people seeing them, I decided not to publish them. I didn't want this little girl's family to feel like she had been labeled or something like that. Same thing with the mother in the median. I had a great shot of her sad face with her black-rimmed eyeglasses and long hair. When she saw that I had the camera on her, I could sense she was near tears.
Had this been a child abduction case, I would have had no problem publishing close-ups of the woman and the little girl. But once I learned of the circumstances, I decided to play it conservative. Having specialized in breaking news over the years with circumstances far more pronounced than this with bloodshed, the instincts and common sense of an experienced reporter kick in.
I can even understand the swift and seemingly aggressive way in which the woman was removed from her SUV by the deputies. VCSO personnel having been informed of her threats of suicide, who knows what she might have had by her side -- a handgun, a knife, or some other lethal weapon. With the ramped up circumstances of lights and sirens against a backdrop of traffic congestion on a Friday afternoon, things can unfold pretty quickly. And they did, perhaps even faster than realized.
From beginning to end -- a span of 15 minutes, the little girl had been picked up by a relative, the Jeep had been removed from the scene and traffic near the intersection was back to its typical bumper-to-bumper stop and go.
I write this now with the intention of recognizing Sheriff Ben Johnson's sworn personnel for their response and handling of the situation at hand. And I thank spokesman Brandon Haught for getting me the information I needed even before the episode was over so I had the basic details to work with to publish the story, which I did later that night.
As I have reported all too often over the years in breaking news, not all of these kinds of circumstances have a such a pleasant ending. In this case, there's something to be said about the value of a McDonald's Happy Meal and the presence of mind of the deputies in how they dealt with the situation after the threat of danger had been eclipsed.
As I have reported all too often over the years in breaking news, not all of these kinds of circumstances have a such a pleasant ending. In this case, there's something to be said about the value of a McDonald's Happy Meal and the presence of mind of the deputies in how they dealt with the situation after the threat of danger had been eclipsed.
And so I end this write-up by offering "kudos" to the Volusia County Sheriff's Office for doin' right by this frightened little New Smyrna Beach girl.