Brevard County Man Charged with Reckless Driving After Fleeing Deputies, Crashes Vehicle on US-1
By Wayne Ivey, Brevard Sheriff // December 26, 2023
charged with Reckless Driving, Aggravated Fleeing and Attempting to Elude LEO
BREVARD COUNTY, FLORIDA – If you drive under the influence in Brevard County you and I both know you are going to jail.
But let there be no mistake, if you drive under the influence on US 1 in the wrong direction and put other citizens lives at risk, you are gonna get pursued and there is a good chance you are going to end up like Kyle Lahanse, who not only got pursued, but also got stop sticked, flipped his vehicle, and got ejected out into the roadway.
Last night while we were all sleeping soundly in our beds after a great Christmas Day, Deputies received a call from a concerned citizen, in reference to a vehicle traveling northbound in the southbound lanes of US 1 in the area of Barefoot Bay.
The vehicle almost struck a citizen and as Deputies Daniel Aponte, Derek Helbig and Justin Shannon were responding to the scene, they were almost struck as well by the wrong way driver that was still traveling northbound in the southbound lanes.
Due to the immediate danger the driver of the truck was causing, our Deputies engaged in an attempted vehicle apprehension to get the driver off the roadway before an innocent citizen got injured or worse, from the driver’s reckless actions.
As Deputies attempted to stop the truck it continued northbound in the southbound lanes, until the intersection of US 1 and SR 192 where our team members unsuccessfully attempted to deploy stop sticks.
The vehicle continued northbound in the wrong lane through the city of Melbourne and Deputies coordinated with Melbourne PD to shut down intersections so that the maniac driver didn’t cause a significant crash.
Even after moving into the proper lane of travel, the truck continued to swerve across all three lanes and on several occasions moved back into on-coming traffic. Stop Sticks were again deployed in the area of US 1, just north of Pineda Causeway, with a successful result that deflated the right front tire of the truck.
Even after losing the right front tire, the truck continued to drive recklessly until another set of stop sticks were deployed in the area of US 1 and Suntree Boulevard.
This time, the right rear tire of the truck was deflated causing Lahanse to lose control and go into the grass median where the vehicle flipped several times causing him to be ejected.
Deputies immediately rendered aid to the Lahanse who was subsequently transported by Fire Rescue to a nearby hospital where he is listed in critical but stable condition. Lahanse is being charged with Reckless Driving and Aggravated Fleeing and Attempting to Elude with possible Driving Under The Influence charges forthcoming pending further investigation.
This guy put so many lives at risk, including his own, all because of his irresponsible and immature actions.
Thank you to all of our Deputies that were involved in this apprehension as well as our great partners at Melbourne PD. Without the quick actions taken by each of you there is no question that innocent civilians would have been harmed by this individual’s reckless and selfish actions.
It’s a very simple rule…don’t be stupid and if you can’t avoid being stupid then don’t do it in Brevard County cause we don’t play that here.
– Sheriff Wayne Ivey
