By Bill Carey
Police1
OCALA, Fla. — Body-worn camera captured the moment a motorcyclist fleeing a traffic stop ran his bike into a Marion County deputy.
The video released by the Marion County Sheriff’s Office begins with K-9 Corporal Calvin Batts attempting to conduct a traffic stop on a motorcycle because it did not have a license plate attached to it, Fox 13 reported.
Dashcam video shows the biker, Matthew Price, attempting to elude Batts, weaving in and out of traffic, and then driving between vehicles stopped at an intersection. To head off Price, Batts went around the stopped vehicles and positioned his patrol vehicle in front of the motorcycle’s path. After Batts exited his vehicle, Price accelerated around the cruiser, striking the deputy with his motorcycle.
“Dude, you hit me head-on with that bike,” said Batts in the BWC video.
Price stated that he fled because his motorcycle did not have a license plate attached and admitted to removing it to avoid paying tolls while driving to Lakeland.
Price was booked on a charge of fleeing to elude a law enforcement officer. If convicted, he faces up to five years in prison, a $5,000 fine, a mandatory driver’s license suspension of one to five years and a mandatory adjudication of guilt.