Three 16-year-old Gainesville residents were arrested for stealing a car after one ran over the car’s owner Saturday night on a cul-de-sac off the intersection of Northeast 41st Place and Northwest Sixth Avenue, Gainesville police said.
Elijah Philman, Brandon Small and Kyyan Jackson face at least one felony charge after a man, who had tire marks across his chest, told police his own car ran him over, GPD spokesperson Officer Ben Tobias wrote in an email. The man was in the area delivering packages to elderly individuals at about 8:30 p.m. and left his car running because it was cold. He told police he saw his car moving east on Northeast Fourth Place before it ran him over.
He called police and gave a description of the car, Tobias said. Tobias said the man is expected to survive, as of Saturday, after being trauma alerted and transferred to the intensive care unit at a hospital.
An officer saw the car moving east on Northeast 39th Avenue and followed it. The officer watched the car speed up toward Northeast 53rd Avenue, fail to slow down as it turned at the intersection and crash into a ditch north of the street. The crash caused $5,000 damage to the car, Tobias said.
Philman, the driver, was detained as he got out of the car, while Jackson and Small at first ran away but then walked out of the woods to the police, Tobias said.
Jackson told police he was riding his bicycle through the neighborhood and saw the unoccupied car was running. Tobias said Jackson admitted to stealing the car and told police it was an accident when he ran over the man. He said he had tried to turn around in the cul-de-sac the steering wheel “locked up.”
Jackson picked up Philman and Small at their home, and Philman asked to drive, Tobias said.
Philman told police he saw the police lights but choose not to stop, Tobias said. He was charged with fleeing police.
The 16-year-olds were arrested on a felony charge — grand theft auto — which makes their names not exempt from disclosure despite their age, Tobias said. Jackson was charged with felony attempted murder and resisting arrest. Small was also charged with resisting arrest.
They were taken to the Juvenile Assessment Center on Saturday. The three are students at Alachua County Public Schools. Philman is a student at the A. Quinn Jones Center, while Jackson attends Eastside High School and Small is in AMI Kids, a rehabilitation school program.
Contact Meryl Kornfield at mkornfield@alligator.org. Follow her on Twitter at @merylkornfield.
