A man recently released from prison in Florida is back in custody after surveillance footage from a gas station allegedly shows him robbing a woman who was filling up her vehicle.
Thursday, 31-year-old Andrew McClellan was booked into the Volusia County Jail on multiple offenses, including grand theft of a vehicle and battery on a law enforcement officer. McClellan allegedly stole an SUV from a woman who was pumping gas at a Mobil station in Apopka on Wednesday in Orange County, according to the allegations.
McClellan pulled up almost perpendicular to the woman’s SUV in a Toyota he allegedly stole, ran out, and hopped into the driver’s seat of her vehicle within seconds, as captured by surveillance footage. By the time she realized what was occurring, he was already inside the vehicle and endeavoring to leave.
There appeared to be a brief altercation before he fled the scene with the gas pump still in the vehicle, and the woman was dragged a few feet while attempting to stop him.
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Morning Leveille, who witnessed the incident while parked at the traffic signal across from the Mobil, told FOX 35 Orlando that she believes the woman was targeted “because she was isolated.”
“She demanded, ‘Get out of my car!'” And he responded, ‘No.’ Then they exchanged a few blows, and he drove off, which propelled her out of the side door,” Leveille said, adding that she and a store employee attended to the victim’s injured arm while waiting for police to arrive.
After discovering the stolen car, Daytona Beach police caught McClellan a few hours later.
McClellan initially resisted arrest, according to an arrest affidavit that FOX 35 obtained. He allegedly shifted his handcuffs to the front of his body while detained and inside a patrol vehicle. He then assaulted officers when the car door was unlocked, pushing one of them and causing him to lose his footing.
Officers struck McClellan three times to secure his compliance, according to FOX 35, then tied his ankles with a “hobble” before placing him in a prisoner transport van. He allegedly raised the “hobble” up to his neck inside the vehicle and tried to tighten it. According to the affidavit, an officer assisted in removing the device, and McClellan, who did not lose consciousness, was transferred to the hospital.
McClellan had only been out of jail for a week during the carjacking. He was freed on September 29 after being arrested by Orange County deputies at the end of August in connection with the burglary of two separate businesses on Orange Blossom Trail.
The case against him was withdrawn because Orange-Osceola State Attorney Andrew Bain’s office found it “not suitable for prosecution,” according to a court record. He was charged with burglary of a structure, petit theft, and criminal mischief.
According to separate court filings, he was released on his own recognizance when Bain’s office failed to file official charges in the second instance by his 33rd day in jail, as is required in Florida.
A representative for Bain’s office told FOX 35 that a statement explaining the decision to withdraw the first case and the delay in the second case that resulted in his release would be issued, but no such statement was received. Fox News Digital reached out to State Attorney Bain’s office on Friday morning but had not received a response by publication.
