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BY JENNIFER CABRERA
GAINESVILLE, Fla. – Anthony Sylvester Daniels, Jr., 21, and Kobe Dean McKnight, 20, were arrested early this morning following a traffic stop.
A Gainesville Police Department Officer who was patrolling the Gardenia Gardens area saw a car that was driving fast and then made a quick turn. The officer followed the car in an attempt to get close enough to read the tag and reported that the car rolled through three stop signs. The officer conducted a traffic stop and made contact with Daniels, the driver, and McKnight, the passenger. The officer reportedly smelled marijuana coming from the car and asked the occupants whether there were drugs or weapons in the car. The occupants reportedly said there were no drugs or weapons in the car. Daniels reportedly handed the officer a medical marijuana card and said he had smoked marijuana in the car earlier in the day and that there were a few “roaches” in the car.
The officer noted that McKnight seemed nervous, so the occupants were asked to get out of the car. The officer searched the car based on the smell of marijuana and reportedly found 4.9 grams of marijuana and one 9mm bullet.
The officer cited Daniels for running a stop sign, collected the bullet and marijuana for evidence, and told both men they could leave.
Because of McKnight’s nervousness and the bullet in the car, the officer began retracing the path of the car, looking for any weapons that may have been thrown out of the car. She wrote that she saw McKnight walking along the road, and when he saw her, he turned around and walked in the opposite direction. She asked him if everything was ok, and he reportedly said that he and Daniels had gotten into an argument and Daniels had kicked him out of the car. She and McKnight walked over to talk to Daniels, and she wrote that McKnight appeared to be prompting Daniels to back up his story.
The officer decided to detain both men. She then reportedly walked to where she had encountered McKnight and found a 9mm pistol, loaded with a round in the chamber.
Post Miranda, Daniels reportedly said that McKnight had thrown the pistol out of the car and that he didn’t know there was a gun in the car until McKnight threw it out of the window.
Post Miranda, McKnight reportedly said that he had just flown in from California and had met up with a family member who had given him the pistol to give to another family member. He reportedly said that when he got in Daniels’ car, he wrapped up the gun in a shirt and put it in the glove compartment. He said Daniels didn’t know there was a gun in the car. He reportedly admitted throwing the gun into a wooded area because he thought they were about to get stopped by the police but that he only threw it because he didn’t want to get in trouble for having a gun.
Daniels has five felony convictions and was released in January 2021 from a three-year state prison sentence for burglary and armed robbery. He is currently on probation in that case, and he entered a plea of nolo contendere in July to a charge of possession of a firearm by a convicted felon. He was sentenced to 127 days in jail, with credit for 127 days served. He is currently being held without bond for violating probation and on $25,000 bail for a new charge of possession of a firearm by a convicted felon.
McKnight has been charged with possession of less than 20 grams of marijuana, carrying a concealed firearm without a permit, and tampering with evidence. He has a juvenile history and is being held on $6,000 bail.
Articles about arrests are based on reports from law enforcement agencies. The charges listed are taken from the arrest report and/or court records and are only accusations. All suspects are innocent until proven guilty in a court of law.
