Florida Man Uses Infant as Human Shield Before Being Tased

A devastating bodycam video shows moments when a Florida man used a 1-year-old child as a human shield. The man was in a standoff with Flagler County deputies and was holding a weapon in hand. 27-year-old Bandon Matthew Douglas Leohner allegedly kidnapped his girlfriend’s child and led police on a chase.

The Flagler County Sheriff’s Office had responded to a home on Bunker Lane in Palm Coast. This after they received a call about an abduction. Deputies quickly discovered that Leohner took the child while he was armed with a gun. He then drove up with the child on his lap, as he left.

Florida Man Uses Infant as Human Shield Before Being Tased

“Deputies located the male a short time later driving recklessly through medians while speeding south on Belle Terre Parkway,” the sheriff’s office released on Facebook. “When deputies attempted to conduct a traffic stop on the vehicle, Leohner fled traveling east on State Road 100, driving over the median and through oncoming traffic before turning into the Target shopping center in Town Center.”

He went on to drive into a nearby McDonald’s parking lot and proceeded to get out of the vehicle near the drive-thru while carrying the child. He quickly put her in front of him as a human shield and refused to listen to law enforcement to put the child down. The body camera footage showed the wild exchange between Leohner and the deputies.

“Put the baby down!” one officer yells. “Put the kid down!” After a quick standoff, deputies went on to deploy a aser and the man dropped on the ground. A deputy is seen carrying the child to safety.