Police pulled over a man in Florida who was driving a car with only two tires on it. He said that paranormal activity was to blame.
Andres Orjuela-Montealegre, age 29, was stopped on an I-75 ramp near Marion Oaks at about 4 a.m. on October 23 after Marion County Sheriff’s deputies saw that the car’s hazard lights were on and that the driver’s side tires looked flat.
The deputy then realized that the tires weren’t flat, but that they were missing and that Orjuela-Montealegre was “driving on what remained of the rim,” the sheriff’s office wrote on Facebook.
When the deputy asked Orjuela-Montealegre about the damage to his car, he said that someone had put a curse on him and that he had hit a curb too hard. Body camera footage shows that the driver said he was given a “do or die” choice: either drive home without tires or set the car on fire and sleep on the median.
The driver was then told to get out of the car, but he didn’t look very stable on his feet. The deputy asked him to do some tests to see if he was under the influence. He started swearing and insulting, and he told the deputy that his car was damaged by “paranormal activity.”
The driver said, “Someone put a curse on me. That is paranormal activity.” In the end, Orjuela-Montealegre threatened deputies.
“If you mess with me right now, let me tell you something, I’ll break your head with a baseball bat,” he said to the deputy. “I’m going to…skin you alive.”
Florida man claims he was driving car with 2 missing tires because of a 'curse': 'That is paranormal activity' https://t.co/JzOkKg0SNr
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The driver kept making threats, and in the end, he was taken into custody.
While two deputies searched the driver, he spit in one of their faces and kept making threats and swearing. As the deputy went to wipe the spit off his face, Orjuela-Montealegre started reaching for their taser.
Orjuela-Montealegre had to be picked up and put in the back of the patrol car, where he kicked both of the deputies.
Orjuela-Montealegre wouldn’t take a breath test after he was taken to jail.
He is being charged with two counts of Battery on a Law Enforcement Officer, Resisting an Officer with Violence, Attempt to Deprive an Officer of Means of Protection or Communication, Corrupt by Threat against Public Servant and Driving Under the Influence.
Orjuela-Montealegre could go to jail for up to 25 and a half years. A $27,000 bond is set as he is being held in jail.