FORT MYERS, Fla. (WINK) \u2014 A Fort Myers man was arrested after deputies said he performed burnouts near a large protest, creating thick smoke that disrupted the gathering and surrounding traffic.<\/p>\n
Jeremy Dale Pegg, 40, was arrested on Daniels Parkway. According to the Lee County Sheriff’s Office arrest report, deputies were dispatched to the area of U.S. 41 and Daniels Parkway on the morning of Oct. 17 after receiving reports of a red Ford driving recklessly during a scheduled protest.<\/p>\n
Drone footage from the sheriff’s office showed Pegg’s vehicle performing a series of burnouts while surrounded by heavy traffic at the intersection, directly next to a large gathering of protesters. Approximately 500 protesters were on scene conducting a lawful assembly.<\/p>\n
The thick black smoke from the vehicle forced protesters to fan it away with their signs. Some protesters dispersed from the area while others walked into traffic to confront Pegg. The smoke also obscured the vision of surrounding drivers, who had to slow down as they drove near or around the truck.<\/p>\n
Deputies conducted a traffic stop and made contact with Pegg, who identified himself with a Florida driver’s license. Records showed Pegg was the registered owner of the red Ford F-250.<\/p>\n
Pegg was arrested and transported to the Lee County Jail.<\/p>\n
Lee County Sheriff Carmine Marceno issued a statement regarding the incident:<\/p>\n
“LCSO is committed to protecting those exercise their right to peacefully assemble and express their views. Our priority is ensuring the safety of all participants, regardless of their viewpoints. During large gatherings, our deputies remain vigilant, monitoring activity from the ground, air, and within our Real Time Intelligence Center.<\/p>\n
In this instance, an LCSO drone operator was monitoring the area when they observed the incident from above. The operator immediately directed deputies to the vehicle involved who made a swift arrest. As always, we encourage all individuals to stay aware of their surroundings and if you see something, say something, make the call.”<\/p>\n
Pegg was charged with disturbing a lawful assembly, racing on highways and reckless driving.<\/p>\n
He is scheduled to appear in court on Nov. 2.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"FORT MYERS, Fla. (WINK) \u2014 A Fort Myers man was arrested after deputies said he performed burnouts near…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":432257,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[14],"tags":[209,211,210,7692],"class_list":["post-432256","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-cape-coral","tag-cape-coral","tag-cape-coral-headlines","tag-cape-coral-news","tag-lee-county-sheriff"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/432256","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=432256"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/432256\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/432257"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=432256"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=432256"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=432256"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}