A Florida inmate faked injuries from a fall while trying to escape and was dragged kicking and screaming by a police dog from bushes where he was hiding, authorities said Sunday.
Anthony Romine, 29, was found Saturday in a wooded area near a gas station in Flagler County after being tracked by a Flagler County Sheriff’s K-9 team.
The sheriff’s office said he was hiding under leaves and undergrowth.
Romy was arrested seven hours after her escape, and video footage of the arrest shows her being dragged by a police dog as she screams in pain.
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Suspect Anthony Romine, 29, was arrested in a wooded area hours after he faked an injury and fled from Florida authorities. (Flasier County Sheriff’s Office)
The video shows the dog tugging on Romine’s arm.
“Please get him!” she can be heard pleading with the officers, but the officers continued to warn Romine, “Stop biting my dog!”
“Okay, I’ll go,” Romine said.
At one point, Romine appeared to be crying, and a deputy asked, “Did you think you were going to get away?” The sheriff’s office said authorities received multiple calls of possible sightings of Romine during his brief escape.
Romine was originally arrested on suspicion of petty theft, violation of pretrial release and forgery on July 3. The sheriff’s office said Romine was in jail when he claimed he had a fall and was then taken to the hospital for treatment.
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Investigators later determined the suspect faked the injury in order to flee and return to his home state of Ohio, authorities said.
“We worked our way through to catch him and I commend our team for continuing to pursue him and the community for ‘seeing something, saying something’ until this vile guy was caught,” said Pfluger County Sheriff Rick Staley. “All he accomplished was adding another arrest to his list of crimes and getting bitten by our police dog, who gets special treatment for ‘biting a crime’ when he tried to get away again. Thankfully no one was hurt except for this vile guy who was crying after being caught by our police dog.”
Suspect Anthony Romine (29) is seen on security camera after his arrest and before his escape. (Flagler County Sheriff’s Office)
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Following his arrest, a charge of felony escape was added to Romine’s list of charges, in addition to assault on a police officer without violence.
Staley said an investigation will be launched to determine how the deputy assigned to Romine became distracted, leading to his escape.
