A Georgia man was arrested in North Fort Myers early Wednesday after he was spotted driving the wrong way on the Edison Bridge and then tried to ram into a deputy’s patrol car, according to the Lee County Sheriff’s Office.
LCSO says deputies responded after someone saw a car driving north in the southbound lanes of the Edison Bridge at about 12:50 a.m., but were unable to find the vehicle.
A deputy later headed north across the Edison Bridge saw a car pull out of Prosperity Point Marina at a high rate of speed and pulled the car over. As the deputy approached the car, the driver, identified as Richard Brooks, 26, accelerated and made a U-turn, heading straight for the deputy and nearly striking him. The deputy had to jump out of the way to avoid being hit. He got back into his patrol car and began pursuing Brooks, with Brooks doing several donuts in the middle of North Tamiami Trail and nearly hitting the patrol car several times. The deputy eventually performed a PIT maneuver to stop him but Brooks resisted getting out of the vehicle, so the deputy deployed his K-9 to help. Another deputy arrived and as the pair tried to remove Brooks from the car, he continued to hit the gas in an attempt to flee. They were finally able to remove him from the car.
Brooks, of Carrollton, Georgia, was taken to Lee Memorial Hospital before being released and taken to the Lee County Jail where he’s being held without bond.