'Crazy Stuff' in Florida as Dad Hurls Baby at Deputy During Chase

"I've seen some crazy stuff but this is definitely up there." So said a deputy with Florida's Indian River County Sheriff's Office of a May 26 pursuit of a suspect that started with a traffic incident and allegedly ended with the man hurling his 2-month-old baby at the deputy. WPEC reports law enforcement started following the suspect on State Road 60 in Vero Beach after he failed to pull over despite sirens indicating he should do so after he was observed failing to maintain his lane. Deputy Jacob Curby says John Henry James III led law enforcement on a 40-minute chase during which he hit a vehicle, avoided roadblocks, and drove over a tire-deflation device.

His car was ultimately surrounded outside an apartment building, and dashcam video notes that "As we approach the suspect, a woman is heard yelling, 'He got a baby!'" Curby says James exited the car and "just turned around, no regard, not a little toss" and "overhand threw this two-month-old at me from about six feet away." Curby caught the child, and James was then tackled by law enforcement. "It was kind of awkward," says Curby. "I couldn't chase him. I couldn't tackle him. Not a whole lot I can do because he had the baby." CNN reports James is being held without bond on charges of aggravated child abuse, aggravated battery of an officer/firefighter/EMT, felony flee and elude, reckless driving, and resisting arrest with violence. The child was uninjured. (More car chase stories.)