A Leesburg man was arrested after leading law enforcement on a high-speed chase.
A Eustis police officer was on traffic patrol on Jan. 13 when he saw a white pickup truck traveling east on McDonald Avenue at nearly 70 miles per hour in a 25 mph zone. The officer activated his lights and siren and began pursuing the speeding truck. The driver kept going and then accelerated into the Parkview apartments parking lot 1482 E. McDonald Ave. and finally came to a stop.
As the officer moved behind the truck, he saw movement where the driver appeared to switch positions with the backseat passenger.
When the officer made contact with the man in the driver’s seat, the officer asked him for his driver’s license and asked if he had been driving the car. The man claimed he was the driver. When additional officers arrived on the scene, the officers had the driver and passenger exit the truck. When the officer spoke with the man who said he was the driver he changed his story and admitted the back seat passenger, 25-year-old Yobani Rodriguez, had been the driver and that he switched seats because Rodriguez’s license was suspended.
The police interviewed a witness who told them that he saw the truck pull into the complex and that the driver switched seats with the man in back.
Rodriguez denied driving the truck.
Rodriguez was arrested on charges of fleeing to elude law enforcement, driving while license was suspended, reckless driving and resisting an office without violence. He was taken to the Lake County Jail where he posted $5,000 bond.