By Kevin Deutsch
A Florida Department of Corrections employee forced a family off the road and held them at gunpoint during a road rage incident in Tamarac, court records show.
Eric Harris, 53, of Sunrise, told investigators he became angry when a driver cut him off on W. According to an arrest affidavit, Commercial Boulevard Oct. 3 near the Florida Turnpike overpass.
Harris pulled alongside the woman’s vehicle, where two of her children and two other passengers were riding, and flashed his DOC badge; he told detectives.
“You think this funny?” Harris said, demanding the victim pulled over, according to the records.
The victim did not believe Harris was a member of law enforcement—he was driving his personal vehicle at the time and never identified himself as law enforcement—so she drove away, according to the Broward Sheriff’s Office.
Harris said he smelled marijuana from the car and gave chase, records show.
The woman drove into a Walgreens parking lot at 3914 W. Commercial Blvd., trying to evade Harris, but he used his vehicle to pin her in and, soon after, crashed his car into her blue 2018 Ford Fusion, according to BSO.
Having boxed in the victim’s car, Harris got out of his vehicle holding a black Sig Sauer 320, a .40 -caliber pistol, records show.
He told everyone in the Fusion to get out of the car and “get down” on the ground while “standing in a law enforcement stance,” the affidavit states.
Harris held the five victims at gunpoint, including two minor children, until BSO Tamarac deputies arrived, records show. He told investigators his version of events and was arrested, according to the affidavit.
Harris was booked into the Broward County Main Jail on five counts of aggravated assault with a deadly weapon.
Records show he was released on a $30,000 bond.
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Author Profile
- Kevin Deutsch is an award-winning crime journalist and author. A graduate of Florida International University, Kevin has worked on staff at The Miami Herald, New York Daily News, and The Palm Beach Post.
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