{"id":413282,"date":"2026-09-29T00:14:32","date_gmt":"2026-09-29T00:14:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/413282\/"},"modified":"2026-09-29T00:14:32","modified_gmt":"2026-09-29T00:14:32","slug":"fort-pierce-driver-accused-of-fleeing-police-twice-during-targeted-traffic-enforcement-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/413282\/","title":{"rendered":"Fort Pierce driver accused of fleeing police twice during targeted traffic enforcement"},"content":{"rendered":"

FORT PIERCE, Fla. (CBS12) \u2014 A driver in Fort Pierce<\/a> is accused of fleeing from police officers twice during a targeted traffic enforcement initiative, according to the Fort Pierce Police Department<\/a>.<\/p>\n

FPPD <\/a>says that on Sept. 25, at around 4:45 p.m., during the traffic enforcement initiative taking place in the Okeechobee Road and Jenkins Road area, officers conducted a traffic stop on a blue Volkswagen Jetta.<\/p>\n

During the stop, they identified that the driver \u2014 Leon Kevin Gentle-Coaxum, 21 \u2014 was driving with a suspended license.<\/p>\n

Next, as the officer approached the vehicle, the Gentle-Coaxum suddenly fled the traffic stop, according to FPPD. He then was seen driving recklessly, speeding into oncoming traffic and around stopped vehicles using the grass shoulder.<\/p>\n

After finding the vehicle stopped in traffic at South 25th Street and Edwards Road, officers attempted another traffic stop and ordered Gentle-Coaxum out of the car. Instead, he refused once again and attempted to flee a second time by ramming a vehicle in front of him.<\/p>\n

See also: Unable to paddle against strong current, pair calls for help and is rescued in river canoe<\/a><\/p>\n

In an effort to stop the car, an officer broke Gentle-Coaxum\u2019s driver\u2019s side window. He then exited through the passenger side and took off on foot. FPPD says a nearby citizen intervened and tackled Gentle-Coaxum, allowing officers to take him into custody.<\/p>\n

Gentle-Coaxum is charged with fleeing and alluding with property damages, hit and run with property damages, operating a vehicle without a valid license and resisting without violence.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"FORT PIERCE, Fla. (CBS12) \u2014 A driver in Fort Pierce is accused of fleeing from police officers twice…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":413283,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[12],"tags":[171,173,172],"class_list":["post-413282","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-port-st-lucie","tag-port-st-lucie","tag-port-st-lucie-headlines","tag-port-st-lucie-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/413282","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=413282"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/413282\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/413283"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=413282"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=413282"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=413282"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}