The Flagler County Sheriff’s Office received a notification from the St. John’s County Sheriff’s Office on Sunday about a stolen vehicle that was travelling through St. John’s County and towards Flagler. The vehicle was a white Hyundai that was reported stolen in Jacksonville and was reported to be travelling at speeds over 100mph on US-1 as it passed through St. John’s County towards Flagler County.
The FCSO was able to spot the vehicle heading south on US-1 with no lights on. Although deputies lost sight of the vehicle for a short period of time, they did locate the vehicle at a later point, crashed and unoccupied near US-1 and Wellfield Grade.
Three juveniles were found just west of the crash in the wood line. Those three juveniles told deputies that there were three other juveniles that were with them in the car. The FCSO brought out the K-9 unit as well as the Drone Unit to search for the remaining juvenile suspects. Two of the three juveniles were also found hiding in the woods. The last juvenile was found later near Matanzas Woods Parkway and US-1.
One of the male juveniles who were taken into custody first stated that a black male driver had held them at gunpoint while fleeing through the multiple counties. Through investigative means, detectives were able to determine that a 16 year old named Austin Tyler Perez Satterwhite from Jacksonville was the driver of the stolen car. While Satterwhite was fleeing from the police, the other juveniles asked for Satterwhite to stop and let them out of the car, however Satterwhite refused.
Satterwhite was taken to the hospital to be evaluated for his injuries, and then was taken to the Sheriff Perry Hall Inmate Detention Facility were he was arrested for Grand Theft – Motor Vehicle, 5 counts of Child Abuse Without Great Bodily Harm, Reckless Driving with Damage to Person/Property, and Leaving the Scene of a Crash with Property Damage. He was also given multiple Uniform Traffic Citations. He was later released to a parent by way of the Department of Juvenile Justice.
“These juveniles took their stolen car joyride too far and the juvenile driver is now facing several felony charges,” said Sheriff Rick Staly. “Fortunately, the other kids were not injured, and they did not injure anyone else as this could have been a deadly joyride. The real question is, ‘Where were the parents? And, did they know what their kids were doing at 3:30 in the morning?’ Thank you to the St. John’s County Sheriff’s Office for helping us apprehend this car thief and reckless driver.”
