What began as a routine traffic stop turned violent when authorities say a driver suddenly took off, leaving one officer trapped inside the vehicle and another clinging to the car as it moved.
The tense encounter unfolded over the weekend in Eustis, Florida, according to police.
Eustis Police said 28-year-old Shakoi Donovan fled during an early Saturday morning stop while an officer was caught inside the driver’s side of his car. A second officer was dragged roughly 10 to 15 feet along the roadway, investigators said.
Body camera footage released by police shows an officer speaking with Shakoi Donovan during the traffic stop before the encounter escalated into a chaotic dragging incident. (Eustis Police Department)
In footage captured by another officer’s body-worn camera, one of the officers can be seen down on the pavement after the vehicle moves away.
The Eustis Police Department in Florida said the suspect accelerated away from the stop, dragging an officer in the process. Video shows the officer on the ground afterward. (Eustis Police Department)
Police said the stop began after officers suspected Donovan may have been driving under the influence. According to a police report, officers noticed a silver Infiniti drifting over a yellow line on a local road before pulling it over.
After officers repeatedly told Donovan to step out of the vehicle, two of them tried to remove him physically, police said. Moments later, Donovan allegedly sped away while the officers were still partially inside the car. (Eustis Police Department)
Two officers stopped Donovan and confronted him, asking him to step out of the car.
When he allegedly did not comply with the officers’ repeated requests to get out, they opened his car door and reached toward the suspect in an attempt to physically remove him while the vehicle was running.
Shakoi Donovan, 28, is sitting in jail facing a list of charges related to the incident. (Lake County Sheriff’s Office)
It was right at this moment that the suspect is seen on officer-worn bodycamera video speeding away with one officer inside his car.
One officer is heard yelling, “He’s taking off Eustis 77 is in the car!”
An officer was pinned between Donovan and the steering while trapping her inside his vehicle during the incident, police say. (Eustis Police Department)
The report said she was pinned between Donovan and the steering wheel.
The second officer was dragged by the vehicle “sending him tumbling across the S. Eustis Street asphalt, barrel rolling multiple times,” the police report said.
His “roll” was captured on camera. He was treated for injuries.
The full police report is available here:
Court records indicate this is not Donovan’s first run-in with the law. He was previously arrested on charges of aggravated assault with a deadly weapon in May and was also arrested on burglary and battery charges in 2022, among other arrests within Lake County, Florida.
Donovan is facing a list of charges, including attempted murder of a law enforcement officer, aggravated battery on a law enforcement officer, and resisting with violence, among others.
He was still in jail as of Friday and is due in court on Aug. 24.
