Fleeing and Attempting to Elude a Law Enforcement Officer

By: John Guidry II

To understand the charge of fleeing and attempting to elude, we need to talk about what’s happening out there with my clients. I had a client who decided to dress up his Mustang for Halloween. He had red & blue police lights, he had the badges and graphics on each side. He then dressed up as a cop and pulled over a woman and kidnapped her. He let her go after just 5 minutes of being cuffed, even the fake-arrested woman thought it was odd that she was put in the passenger seat of a mustang–but the point of all this is, you never really know who’s pulling you over.

And, it is those few seconds where you’re wondering if this is real, or if they’re after the person in front of me (that’s what I always hope, right?), its that sort of delay that can get you in trouble.

The point is, this crime happens when an impatient officer feels as though you’re not pulling over as soon as the officer thinks you should. Really, this charge is just a trumped up resisting an officer without violence, if you’re familiar with that crime.

This is serious stuff, the most basic fleeing charge is a felony that carries a maximum of five years in prison, but it doesn’t take much to have the charge upgraded to a second degree felony where the prison time runs up to 15 years. If someone is injured during the fleeing incident, the charge carries a minimum mandatory 3 years in prison, no gain time, and the government is entitled to seize the car used to flee. And, every fleeing conviction comes with a minimum one year driver’s license suspension, but the judge can go up to five years on this.

The good news is, there are plenty of defenses to a fleeing charge. I find that when I read an arrest report for a fleeing charge, it always sounds worse than what actually happened, so I’ll always pull the body cam, dash cam, and traffic cams on these cases to show what really happened.

Also, we defense attorneys are going to be checking to see if the cop car had the proper agency insignia and jurisdictional markings on it to make this crime stick.

For example, in the case of Slack v. State, Slack was convicted of fleeing and attempting to elude because the officer testified that he was driving a “marked patrol car with lights on top.” The appeals court threw out Slack’s conviction, holding that just having a “marked car” isn’t enough. To convict for fleeing, you’ve got to prove that there is first, an agency insignia on the car and, second, that there are jurisdictional markings displayed on the vehicle. Slack’s cop only testified as to the insignia, not the jurisdictional marking. So, fleeing case dismissed. So, there’s lots of technicalities here, and there is hope. Good luck on your case, and thanks for reading this article, and be sure to give our office a call if you’re accused of fleeing anywhere in Central Florida, that’s where we’ve been defending these allegations since 1993.

About the Author, John Guidry II

John Guidry II is a seasoned criminal defense attorney and founder of the Law Firm of John P. Guidry II, P.A., located in downtown Orlando next to the Orange County Courthouse, where he has practiced for over 30 years. With more than three decades of experience defending clients throughout Central Florida since 1993, Guidry has successfully defended thousands of cases in Orange, Seminole, Osceola, Brevard, Lake, and Volusia counties. He has built a reputation for his strategic approach to criminal defense, focusing on pretrial motions and case dismissals rather than jury trials.

Guidry earned both his Juris Doctorate and Master of Business Administration from St. Louis University in 1993. He is a member of the Florida Bar and the Florida Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers. His practice encompasses the full spectrum of Florida state criminal charges, with a particular emphasis on achieving favorable outcomes through thorough pretrial preparation and motion practice.

Beyond the courtroom, Guidry is a prolific legal educator who has authored over 400 articles on criminal defense topics. He shares his legal expertise through his popular YouTube channel, Instagram, and TikTok accounts, where he has built a substantial following of people eager to learn about the law. His educational content breaks down complex legal concepts into accessible information for the general public.

When not practicing law, Guidry enjoys tennis and pickleball, and loves to travel. Drawing from his background as a former recording studio owner and music video producer in the Orlando area, he brings a creative perspective to his legal practice and continues to apply his passion for video production to his educational content.