He's running. Hold on. Let me get my car. Why'd you run down this way? Mom wanted some time before you came so I can talk to my mom. Bro, I'm in the back of a cop car right now. An animal ran in front of me, bro. And I swerve right in my head house. Wednesday, December 4th, 2024, Palm Coast, Florida. The police receive a call from a couple reporting that a vehicle has crashed into their house. Based on the damages mentioned and the victim's concerns, it didn't seem like anything too serious had happened. However, upon arriving on the scene, the officers would be met with an unexpected surprise. I'm Tyler, and this is your daily dose of crime. What? He's running. Hold on, let me get my car. 214 operator truck is running down barrista right now trying to catch him. 214. I'm 1044 right now. I'm hard. What's up? He's on the way, right? Who's that? My mom. Okay. Were you driving the truck? Yeah, on accident. On accident? While you were driving the truck on accident? No. No. I I thought there was something in front of me on accident and I swerved off. I thought I was going to hit something. Upon arrival, the victims report that the driver responsible for the vehicle had fled on foot. The driver identified as Aiden Salo Maldonado is located by officers only yards from the crash site and is standing and talking on the phone when an officer approaches him to make the arrest. The young man explains that he had seen something in front of him while driving and his reaction was to swerve and avoid it, but he ended up crashing after losing control of the vehicle. Something sounded off about his statements, and the authorities have to be thorough in their investigation. Okay. Why'd you run down this way? Because I was talking to my mom. I wanted some time before you came so I could talk to my mom to come pick like talk talk. So, have you been drinking? No, I tal I drank a little bit. Yes. But like not like a crazy amount. Do you have any driver's license or anything on you? I don't have anything on. He's on the way right now. Okay. All right. Is anybody else in the truck with you? No. No. I was by myself. I'm so sorry. I thought I was going to hit like a deer or something. I saw a shadow in front of my car and I thought What's your What's your How do you spell your first name? Uh Aiden. Say it right here. Stay right here. That's That's why I stepped the hell. Okay, stay right here. You realized that you hit a house, right? Yes, I realized. Did you check to see if anybody was hurt or anything? No, cuz I thought it was the animal in front of me and so I went to the road to see if the enemy was there. All right, do me a favor. Come over here. In the meantime, while we are figure out everything, we're just going to sit in the back of my car. Okay, come on. So I came as I was coming on the street. The guy that lived here said that he saw him running down. So like he was screaming. I was down parked down there and he was screaming at me that he was running down over here. So is he handcuffed or anything? No, he's not. Not not yet. I'm doing an investigation. Did you search him and stuff? Yes, I patted him down. He has no weapons nothing on him. What did he say? Did he say anything? He said that he said that he was drinking before. Um but I hadn't done the DUI. I wanted to go make sure that there was nobody else hurt, so I was going to put him in my car fire. Hey, yeah, back home. Figure that out. Okay. Maldonado justifies his escape by saying he needed to talk to his mother before the police caught up with him. His nervousness is clear as he admits to having been drinking earlier, and the police do everything they can to get to the bottom of the situation. A DUI test is crucial in determining the driver's state and understanding how the accident occurred. Hi. Hi. Hi. Who are you? It's the father for him. Yeah. Okay. He's going to back him back down here. Um, we're still trying to figure out what's going on. Okay, so just sit tight for a minute. All right, it's just you two that live here. Nobody else is inside. Okay. Okay, bro. I'm in the back of a cop car right now. An animal ran in front of me, bro. And I [ __ ] cuz I didn't want to kill it and I hit a house. It's valid. Negative. Comes back to Hector Ry registered to 148 Bington. You guys are homeowners? Yeah, we're the homeowners. All righty. Um, so obviously who is there? What's in this? Is this your garage right here? That's our garage. Yeah. No rooms or nothing like that. We were sleeping. We thought a tree fell on the house. Was Did he make any medical complaints? Okay. Yeah, he was in the back of the car. Yeah. Yeah. He took off running down the street. Yeah. You have any medical complaints, boss? Nope. It's just an animal. Officers take statements from the victims who report that they were sleeping at the time of the crash and woke up to the sound of the impact. While the authorities check on the health of everyone involved, Maldonado is overheard talking on the phone with a friend recounting the events. The young man insists that the crash was caused by an animal, completely ignoring his responsibility as the driver. I don't know if an animal would make you do all that. To be honest with you, it wouldn't. Like I saw an animal in front of me and I started swerving. Is the truck registered to you? Yeah. Okay. Yo, who you on the phone with? With my friend. Okay, hang up the phone. We're not We're not doing this right now. Yeah, we can um send 12 to secure him. Yeah. Um and then Okay, do me a favor. Turn around. All right. Come back here for a minute. All right. Do you have any weapons or anything on you? Okay. Did he have a DL or anything on him? Okay. Do you have a wallet or anything in the truck? No. Okay. All right. You're not under arrest right now. Okay. But you are just placed in handcuffs while we conduct our investigation. Okay. You want to you can set him back down for right now. Once the police verify the facts and confirm Maldonado's guilt, the officers proceed to handcuff him following protocol. The young man begins to panic at the thought of going to jail, and his fear gradually pushes him to confess the truth. What's up, bro? How you doing, man? [Applause] Jeez. Je good job. And uh just make sure your act. Yeah. Yeah. Yes, sir. No problem. Gas on your side. Is that Are they in the inside? Is that what they're looking at on the inside? Who knocked over? Uh that inside there and that's hard to tell because so much stuff pushed up against it. I don't think it's all right. I don't know. Let me get in and take a look at the brand new I get it out of there. There's no way to get it out of there. And look at my nice Yeah, I love that. Look at my nice house. Am I going down to the station officer? We'll get to that in a second. Okay. You realize you could have killed somebody tonight, right? I realized I could have killed myself, sir. I could have died today. Police officer. Sir, um, can I ask you a question? What's up? Did you grab my phone off the back of the car? Your phone's right up up up here with me. Okay. Okay. I just didn't want you to drive off and I got you. Okay. Thank you. Sit tight, bud. You're going to be mobile. Is the family all right? Yeah, they're okay. I mean, their house is destroyed. Um, right now you're going to be issued two citations in reference to the crash that took place. Okay. One of which you do have to sign for. I'm going to explain to you what both the citations are and your options for taking care of the citation. Do you you okay with that? Yes, sir. Okay. So, so the first citation you're going to be issued is going to be um operating during invalid hours. You do have a valid driver's license, but it's a learner's correct. Correct. The amount of that citation is $166. Okay. This citation, this is the one that you're going to have to sign. This is a citation. This is for reckless driving with property damage. Okay. Okay. Um this one here is going to be a NTA. Okay. What this is, what that means is that you have a notice to appear to the court. Okay. Okay. The court you're going to have to go to is going to be the 1769 East Moody Boulevard, building number one. That's the number that you can contact right there. So, you're going to So, in like 10 days, they're going to call you. Um, I do have to have you sign this one. That's fine. Um, so I'm just going to have him step out the vehicle. You want to step out? All right. I really have to pee. I'm sure. I know you've been here for sitting for a minute. We're going to take the handcuffs off you real quick so that you can sign the citation and then we can continue with. While analyzing the scene, authorities try to recreate the incident to figure out what maneuver Maldonado performed that caused him to crash into the victim's house and determine how fast he was driving. In the meantime, another officer informs the suspect about two citations. One for driving outside of permitted hours with a provisional license and another for reckless driving resulting in property damage. This only makes the young man more anxious. My stepdad's phone is almost dead and he was on the phone with my mother. Is there any way that he can get my phone or no? Yeah. I I'll give it to him in a second. Okay. Just sign this top portion right here. Okay. Yeah. You sure you don't need med? No. What's going on? I I've had acid reflux for like the past 10 days. It makes me You're all right. It's okay. I've been throwing up so much the past couple days. Doesn't matter if I put my middle name right. Yeah. Just make sure it's a signature. Put Oops. Okay. So, at this point in time, my crash investigation is completed. Um, now what we are going to be conducting is going to be called what's called a DUI investigation. Okay? So I am going to we're going to read you your rights, right? And then we'll go forward from there. Okay. Do you understand? Yes, sir. What happened? Why are we here? How were you were you driving the truck? Yes. Okay. Um, were you drinking earlier with my friends? Yes. How earlier? What is what does that mean? What time is it, sir? Well, currently what time is it? is 318. 318 about just maybe 4 and a half hours. Okay. How much did you have to drink? Maybe not like a crazy amount. Not an alcoholic like Well, what about this? Was it beer, alcohol, liquor, wine? No, it was it was liquor and it was uh Due to extreme nervousness, Aiden ends up vomiting next to the patrol car and only seconds before signing the citations. When questioned by officers, the young man admits to having consumed alcohol before the accident, but denies drinking excessively, claiming he had only had a little, which the officers disagreed with. Two small cups like about this big, and it was mixed drinks. So, it wasn't about like the whole cup of liqu. Talk to us about what happened with how you ended up crashing the vehicle. What happened? Did you see or what you do or my friends left at my house and my mom was here but I took uh a argument with my dad right? I had an argument with my dad and I just wanted to take a stroll around the block. I didn't want anything more. I just wanted to clear my head. I hear you. So, you were driving, you were enjoying your music, and then what happened when you got around this this area? When I was driving down, you said earlier, I saw a shadow of a deer. I never said that. I never said that's what you told me when you were I never said a shadow of a deer. I saw a shadow, but never never a shadow of a deer. I saw a shadow and I got scared. I lost control of the wheel. I turned it left and I started skirting. I turned the right. I started skirting and I just went off the road. At least that's what I remember. Maybe I should turn it right, then left, then right, but the exact direction doesn't realistically matter. It's just I I lost control of the wheel. Yeah. I saw the shadow and I got scared. You know, it passed me how fast you were going. No idea. But it wasn't like anything crazy. Um, do you want to conduct some field sobriety exercises? I'm I'm okay with coordination. I mean, it's nothing, you know, I I don't want you to feel pressured. It's all up to you. If you want to do them, you can. If you don't want to do them, it's all up to you. Before the crash, Aiden says he had argued with his father, which led him to drink and drive to clear his head. According to him, he was driving calmly and listening to music when he suddenly saw a shadow and swerve to avoid it, losing control of the vehicle shortly after. There's an inconsistency in his statement. Earlier, he claimed to have swerved to avoid an animal, but now he only talks about seeing a shadow. The officers are not buying the story, so they proceed with a DUI test to check his condition. So, the first one we're going to do is going to be called the horizontal gaze and stagnosis and lift. What I'm going to have you do is I'm going to have you put your feet together, hands down at your side. You're going to keep your head still. Okay? And look at and follow the stimulus. Okay? With your eyes only don't move your head. So again, make sure you don't mind. Go up. Okay. Okay. So, the next thing we're going to do um is going to be called the walking turn. Okay. Put your left foot on the line. Then place your right foot on the line ahead of your left with the heel of your right foot against uh the toe of your left foot. as in like this basically. And when I tell you to when I tell you to begin, you're going to take nine heel to toe steps on the line. All right. When you turn around, you're going to keep one foot on the line and return back nine steps. Okay. So, let's say this is my line. All right. Right. Right. Keep your hands down. Right there. Three. Four. Five. Six. Now, when I get to my nine, right, I'm going to keep one foot. Okay. Yep. And then you're going to continue to do your nine steps going back. Okay. All right. One, two, four. 5 6 7 8 9 10. Step on barefoot. One. Remember, keep your hands down by your side. Two 3 4 5. The next one we're going to do is going to be called the one leg stand. All right. Ready? Okay. And then count out loud. Okay. Ready? 1 1,00 2 100 3 100 Are you looking at your foot? 100 5 1 6 1 Look at your foot. Look at Oh, I got to look at my foot. 1 10 1 10 1 10 1 10 1 10 1 10 1 10 1 10 1 10 1 10 1 And it's 6 in off the ground,000. Just kidding. Um do me one more favor. What I'm going to have you do is um put your hands back, close your eyes, and then just keep counting and I'll tell you when to stop. Okay. Okay. So, like this? Yep. Put your head all the way back and close your eyes. All right. 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10. All right. Right now, Mr. Aiden, you're going to be uh detained right now in reference to a DUI. You you advised to me post Miranda that you had been uh consuming alcoholic beverages underneath the age of 21. Okay. You understand? Yes. 214. After some testing, the police identify irregularities in the driver's actions and confirm a positive result for DUI. Aiden Salo Maldonado, age 18, is charged with driving under the influence, crashing into a residence, and fleeing from officers.