Florida man accused of carjacking woman at gas station was released from jail days prior
A Florida man recently released from jail is back behind bars after surveillance footage from a gas station allegedly showed him carjacking a woman pumping fuel into her vehicle.
Andrew McClellan, 31, was booked into the Volusia County Jail Thursday on multiple charges, including vehicle grand theft and battery on a law enforcement officer. The charges stem from a Wednesday incident in Orange County, where McClellan allegedly stole an SUV from a woman pumping gas at a Mobil station in Apopka.
Surveillance footage of the incident showed a man, identified as McClellan, pulling up almost perpendicular to the woman's SUV in a Toyota he allegedly stole, running out and hopping into the driver's seat of her vehicle within seconds. By the time she noticed what was happening, he was inside the car and attempting to drive off.
There appeared to be a brief altercation before he fled the scene with the pump still in the car and the woman trying to stop him, which resulted in her getting dragged a few feet.
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Morning Leveille, who witnessed the incident while parked at the traffic light across the street from the Mobil, told FOX 35 Orlando she thinks the woman was likely targeted "because she was isolated."
"She was like, ‘Get out of my car!’ And he said, ‘No.’ And then they threw a couple of punches, and he drove off, which eventually flung her out of the side of the car door," Leveille said, adding that she and a store clerk tended to the victim's injured arm while waiting for police to arrive.
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McClellan was arrested by Daytona Beach police a few hours later when officers spotted the stolen vehicle.
An arrest affidavit obtained by FOX 35 said McClellan initially resisted arrest. Once detained and inside a patrol vehicle, he allegedly maneuvered his handcuffs to the front of his body then rushed officers when the car door was opened, pushing one of them and causing him to lose his balance.
Officers struck McClellan three times to gain compliance, FOX 35 reported, and used a "hobble" to tie his ankles together before placing him in a prisoner transport vehicle. Inside that vehicle, he allegedly moved the "hobble" up to his neck and attempted to tighten it. An officer helped remove the device, and McClellan, who did not lose consciousness, was transported to the hospital, according to the affidavit.
At the time of the carjacking, McClellan had not even experienced a full week out of jail. He was released on Sept. 29 after Orange County deputies arrested him at the end of August in connection with the burglary of two separate businesses on Orange Blossom Trail.
The case against him – in which he was charged with burglary of structure, petit theft and criminal mischief – was dropped after Orange-Osceola State Attorney Andrew Bain's office determined it was "not suitable for prosecution," a court document revealed.
He was released from jail on his own recognizance after Bain's office did not file formal charges in the second case by his 33rd day in jail, which is required in Florida, according to separate court documents.
A spokesperson for Bain's office told FOX 35 a statement would be released explaining the decision to drop the first case and the delay in the second case that led to his release, but one was not received. Fox News Digital also contacted State Attorney Bain's office Friday morning, but did not hear back by time of publication.