Brevard Deputies Apprehend Man After 100 MPH Chase Through Merritt Island, Kennedy Space Center

harged with two counts of fleeing and eluding, possession of cocaine, and reckless drivin

Taparree Shelton led Brevard County Sheriff’s Deputies on a high-speed chase through Merritt Island and onto Kennedy Space Center property before being stopped with spike strips.

BREVARD COUNTY • MERRITT ISLAND, FLORIDA – Like Stitch running wild across the field at this year’s Super Bowl, Monday night Taparree Shelton decided to fly by Deputies at approximately 100 miles per hour in Merritt Island and never looked back!

The incident happened when Deputy Eric Williams was conducting traffic enforcement in the area of SR 528 and 401 when he observed a vehicle coming in hot. From there, well, just like Stitch…more bad decisions were made.

As Deputy Williams attempted to catch up to the vehicle and conduct a traffic stop, the car began maneuvering in between traffic and picked up speed. Of course we called our own fast little toy, our helicopter STAR, to maintain a visual on the vehicle as other units arrived to assist.

Of course Shelton made more bad decisions as he decided to travel onto Kennedy Space Center property giving their Officers a chance to join in as well!! Eventually our partners at KSC were able to deploy stop sticks causing the front tires of Shelton’s car to go out, brining him to a stop.

Now, with nowhere else to go, Shelton finally made a wise decision by peacefully exiting the vehicle and surrendering to the Deputies and Officers on the scene.

And, of course, no surprise to anyone as to why he was running, as when Deputies cleared the vehicle, they located approximately 2 grams of a substance that field tested positive for Cocaine on the floorboard near the driver seat.

Well, as you might imagine, ole Shelton was charged with two counts of fleeing and eluding, possession of cocaine, and reckless driving and transported to Ivey’s Iron Bar Lodge on a $13,000 bond.

As a favor to Shelton, we gave him another shirt to wear as he made new friends at the jail. I’m not sure that wearing a Stitch character shirt would give the appearance of toughness that one may want in that environment.

Folks, you know the deal: If you try to run from us in Brevard County, we promise you’ll only go to jail tired. Aloha Stitch!

– Sheriff Wayne Ivey

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