Florida man arrested following high-speed chase

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SUMMERDALE, Alabama — A Florida man was arrested Monday in Summerdale after leading Sheriff’s Deputies on a high-speed chase that ended in a standoff near the Baldwin Beach Express in Summerdale.

According to Baldwin County Corrections Facility records, Joshua Errin Fuqua, 47, of Cantonment, Florida, was booked at around 9:30 p.m. Monday on misdemeanor charges of reckless endangerment, resisting arrest, obstructing government operations and attempting to elude.

It started around 2 p.m. Monday when a Sheriff’s Deputy observed a vehicle moving erratically along U.S. 90 near the Baldwin Beach Express, said Capt. Clint Cadenhead with the BCSO Investigations Command.

When the deputy attempted to pull over the vehicle, the driver, later identified as Fuqua, refused to stop, Cadenhead said, and led the vehicle on a low-speed chase, turning west onto Alabama 104 (Silverhill Avenue) in Robertsdale, turning south on College Avenue, continuing on County Road 71 into Summerdale.

“The whole time he was holding a rather large knife, pointing it at deputies and threatening to cut himself,” Cadenhead said.

When the driver got to Summerdale, he sped up, Cadenhead said, reaching speeds up to 90 miles per hour, turning onto County Road 36 heading back toward the Baldwin Beach Express.

“He clearly didn’t know where he was or was turned around at that point,” Cadenhead said, “because he eventually ran into a dead end just before where the road intersects with the Beach Express.”

This led to a standoff with deputies which lasted a couple of hours, Cadenhead said, with Fuqua refusing to exit the vehicle, resulting in S.W.A.T. units being called to the scene where negotiators attempted to talk him down.

“He was very hostile toward the deputies, cutting his wrists several times during the confrontation, so he was bleeding,” Cadenhead said.

Negotiators were finally able to get the driver to the point where he opened the door of his vehicle where he was shot several times with non-lethal shotgun rounds, then a K-9 deputy was deployed.

Fuqua was then arrested and taken to a local hospital to be treated for his injuries before being transported to the Baldwin County Corrections Facility in Bay Minette, where he is being held on a $6,000 bond.