A Sorrento man with a history of traffic offenses was arrested after crashing into a ditch while trying to avoid a traffic stop.
The Mount Dora Police Department advised that they tried to stop the driver of a grey Ford Ranger, later identified as 27-year-old Preston Allen Scott Whipp, at about 3:40 a.m. Tuesday, according to an arrest report from the Lake County Sheriff’s Office. But the vehicle did not obey, and the traffic stop ended.
At the time of this attempted stop, a deputy was around County Road 44a and County Road 439 when he observed the same vehicle traveling at a high rate of speed. As the deputy approached State Road 42 headed northbound on County Road 439, he activated his emergency lights and sirens to initiate another traffic stop. The vehicle ignored this and continued traveling at a high rate of speed instead, the report said.
Another deputy spotted the vehicle headed northbound on NFS 572, where it lost control and crashed into a ditch. Deputies arrived at the vehicle’s final resting spot and saw it was unoccupied. The report noted the MDPD officers stated there was an estimated 30-year-old man alone inside the vehicle at the time they attempted their stop.
The deputies and other agencies set up a perimeter to find the subject. They were advised earlier of a possible suspect that was driving the vehicle, to which MDPD was able to positively identify Whipp, the report said.
A LCSO K-9 unit and deputies were able to find Whipp bedded down in the forest area just west of NFS 572 at about 6:51 a.m. He was arrested, but due to him sustaining injuries from his collision, he was taken to AdventHealth Waterman, located at 1000 Waterman Way in Tavares, the report said.
It was later determined that Whipp’s driver’s license was permanently revoked in May 2017 as a habitual traffic offender. He had eight instances of failure to pay financial obligations dating from March 2017 to Sept. 2023, two instances of fleeing or attempting to elude police officer from Jan. 2019 and Sept. 2024, and two criminal failures to pay instances from May and July 2017, the report said.
Whipp was later released from the hospital and arrested on charges of flee or attempting to elude a law enforcement officer, resisting officer without violence and driving while license revoked for habitual traffic offender. He was transported to Lake County Jail and released after posting $8,500 bond.