Former Nassau deputy arrested for 2nd time in 3 months, refused to pull over for NCSO SUV: warrant
A former Nassau County Sheriff’s Office deputy who was arrested in September after barricading himself inside a home in the Wildlight community for six hours has been arrested again.
According to a NCSO arrest report, Earice Ray Rhoden Jr. was arrested on Tuesday on a charge of fleeing or attempting to elude a police officer.
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Rhoden’s arrest warrant for Tuesday’s alleged incident says that he was “out on bond in a separate case.”
That “separate case” happened in September, when Rhoden was arrested for aggravated assault with a deadly weapon and using a firearm while under the influence of alcohol or drugs.
Rhoden is now in the Nassau County Jail on no bond.
Read: NCSO: Man who was barricaded inside Yulee home was a Nassau Co. deputy
On Tuesday, Rhoden’s arrest warrant said deputies responded to “a domestic dispute in progress” involving Rhoden, who left the home in his Jeep Wrangler.
The warrant said, “The caller advised the subject was throwing things and tearing up their house. This is similar to another situation in which Mr. Rhoden suffered a mental episode and discharged his firearm at responding Law Enforcement.”
One of the responding deputies saw driving west on State Road 200 near Wildlight Avenue, the warrant said. The deputy tried to conduct a traffic stop with Rhoden at State Road 200 and Interstate 95 to investigate the alleged domestic dispute.
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The deputy turned on lights and sirens on their NCSO SUV, the warrant said, and Rhoden continued south on I-95 and merged into traffic.
“He continued south on I-95 southbound in the middle lane for two miles with Mr. Rhoden refusing to stop,” the warrant said.
Deputies at the home advised the deputy who was following Rhoden that “no crime was being reported at the suspect’s home,” the warrant said, and the deputy following Rhoden was advised to discontinue the traffic stop attempt.
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Before stopping the pursuit, the deputy pulled alongside Rhoden near the Nassau-Duval county line to confirm it was him, the warrant said.
After the deputy discontinued the stop, Rhoden called the deputy’s cellphone and the deputy answered, telling Rhoden that he was being recorded on the deputy’s body-worn camera.
The deputy, “told Mr. Rhoden who is a prior law enforcement officer he knows better than that and he should have just pulled over.”
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