A man in Florida who had allegedly been kidnapped and was being held hostage as he drove was able to successfully alert police officers by driving erratically.
The resident of Port St Lucie, who works as a dog breeder, was rescued by a highway patrol officer, having intentionally violated traffic laws in an attempt to get police to pull him over.
“It worked,” said the Martin county sheriff’s office of his plan.
According to the sheriff’s office, the victim was visited at his home by the three alleged kidnappers, who posed as interested dog buyers.
There they allegedly assaulted and robbed him, stealing large amounts of cash, before kidnapping him.
After two days of moving him between several locations as a hostage, the men ordered the victim to drive them through Martin county to another location, police said.
While driving, the victim spotted a highway patrol officer and purposely committed a traffic violation in the hopes of getting pulled over. When an officer stopped the vehicle, the victim was unable to say that he was being kidnapped by the three men sitting in the back seat, and “had a look of despair” when the officer only gave him a warning.
Instead of driving off, however, the man used a “hand motion” to again get the attention of the deputy, who ordered the victim to step out of the car. The victim informed the officer he was being kidnapped, after which highway patrol officers took the three suspects into custody.
Police recovered knives, guns and a large amount of cash from the vehicle.
The three men were charged with several counts including kidnapping, unlicensed carrying of a firearm, assault and carjacking.
