New details released in Florida Highway Patrol trooper-involved shooting near Palm Coast
Jacqueline Faye Blank sat behind the wheel of her sedan, placed a glass pipe in her mouth and lit it as Florida Highway Patrol troopers tried to arrest her near Palm Coast after a chase last week, according to newly released details from FHP.
Then Blank repeatedly drove her Acura into patrol vehicles, attempting to strike a trooper before a trooper shot her, according to a previous report.
The 37-year-old Blank, a resident of DeLand, had already struck a trooper “in the beltline” earlier during the incident, the latest report stated.
Blank has been charged with three counts of aggravated battery on a police officer; resisting with violence; aggravated fleeing and eluding; reckless driving; and driving without a valid drivers license.
She was also charged with felony criminal mischief due to the damage to the patrol cars, the incident report stated.
Blank remained held without bond Friday at the Volusia County Branch Jail.
The incident report released Friday does not identify the trooper who shot Blank nor does it even state Blank was shot, but it provides new details into the chase that began on Interstate 95 and ended in a parking lot near the Lodge at the Hammock Beach Resort and Spa near Palm Coast.
The Florida Department of Law Enforcement is investigating the shooting as is routine for officer-involved shootings in the area.
Car chase starts on I-95 near Palm Coast
The report stated that troopers W. Kelly, C. Nottingham and D. Lewis saw a white Aucra four-door traveling north on Interstate 95.
The driver was traveling “with a willful and wanton disregard for the safety of the motoring public,” the report stated.
The three troopers began following the Acura to observe the driving pattern. The driver then crossed all lanes and abruptly exited the interstate at Matanzas Woods Parkway and headed east.
Trooper Lewis saw both Blank and the passenger cover their faces with bandanas and duck behind the dash, trying to conceal their identities, the report stated.
Blank then made a “sweeping left turn” onto Old Kings Road North. She then turned left into a storage facility parking lot with a closed entrance gate. All three FHP patrol vehicles activated their emergency lights to conduct a traffic stop.
Blank “immediately took evasive action and intentionally rammed” the marked patrol vehicle driven by Nottingham.
Trooper Lewis had stepped out of his patrol car and ordered the Blank to stop. But Blank intentionally steered the Acura toward “Lewis in an attempt to strike him with her vehicle,” the report stated.
Lewis took evasive action to avoid being injured or killed but “was still struck in the area of his belt line” by the Acura, the report stated.
Blank then sped away with the Acura reaching speeds of “well over” 100 mph. The three troopers pursued her.
Troopers chased the Acura to 16th Road East and the driveway at the Lodge at Hammock Beach. Blank made a U-turn through the parking lot and drove head-on at the troopers, the report stated.
Blank rammed the Acura into two patrol vehicles, causing more than $1,000 in damage. After that, troopers repeatedly ordered Blank and the passenger out of the Acura.
Blank took a glass pipe commonly used to smoke illegal narcotics and placed it in her mouth. She lit it.
Blank then looked at Trooper Schaub. Schaub “who was standing directly in front of the Acura, wedged between two patrol vehicles due to the collision,” the report stated.
Blank put the Acura “in drive and accelerated rapidly towards Trooper Schaub,” according to the report.
Blank repeatedly collided with the patrol vehicles by going in reverse and forward several times in an attempt to strike Schaub with the Acura, the report stated.
“Troopers used appropriate force to stop the threat of being struck by the Acura due to the driver’s actions,” the report stated.
Several shots fired
A video taken by someone at the resort and posted online shows law enforcement officers on both sides of a white sedan. FHP vehicles are in front of the vehicle. An officer is standing in between two FHP vehicles in front of the sedan.
On the passenger side, an officer uses what appears to be a baton to try to break the passenger side window as sirens blare. An officer on the driver's side appears to kick at the car. Some officers appear to have guns pointed at the car.
The car moves forward and then back and then forward again, striking an FHP vehicle.
Then two shots ring out. There is pause and then two more shots are heard.
After the shots, an officer on the driver's side strikes at the vehicle with an object. The passenger side door opens and officers pull someone away from the car. The video then ends.
Blank faced probation violation out of Volusia County
At the time she was accused of trying to strike a trooper with her car, Blank was already being sought on a probation violation on a charge of resisting an officer with violence in Volusia County, according to court records.
Blank violated probation by not informing her probation officer that she had moved from her residence in DeLand on Oct. 13 and then failing to report to the probation office on Oct. 17, according to court records.
The resisting charge was part of a case in which Blank was also charged with disorderly conduct and possession of paraphernalia. That arrest stemmed from a disturbance at the Hawaiian Inn in Daytona Beach Shores on Aug. 3 when Blank and another woman were in the lobby shouting at each other, a report stated.
This article originally appeared on The Daytona Beach News-Journal: New details released in FHP shooting of woman near Palm Coast
