Background: The intersection of San Carlos Boulevard and Linda Loma Drive in Lee County, Florida (Google Maps). Inset: Larry Rada Jr. (Lee County Sheriff”s Office).
A Florida father fleeing police crashed into a ditch, then hurled three young children over a nearly six-foot fence in a desperate escape attempt, authorities say.
Larry Rada Jr., 26, faces a slew of charges, including three counts of cruelty toward a child, three counts of child neglect — all of them without great bodily harm — hit and run, and fleeing/eluding police.
On Saturday, a Lee County Sheriff’s Office deputy was patrolling around the area of Fort Myers Beach when he saw a black Infiniti with Michigan plates “driving recklessly,” according to a probable cause statement reviewed by Law&Crime. The law enforcement officer tried to conduct a traffic stop, but the sedan did “a complete 360 around his patrol vehicle” and sped away.
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The sheriff’s deputy “did not pursue the vehicle further,” but as he continued driving, “he was flagged down by several drivers in the area.” The suspect’s vehicle had apparently “crashed into a ditch.”
The officer arrived at the location — the intersection of San Carlos Boulevard and Linda Loma Drive — and spoke with multiple witnesses. The suspect — later alleged to be Rada — fled from the car with three young children, one witness reportedly said.
Rada is said to have been the uncle of two of the children and the father of the other child.
Another witness had surveillance footage of Rada “cutting across his backyard with all three victims, approaching a locked gate, and proceeding to toss all three victims over the fence,” which measured 5.92 feet high, the probable cause statement reads.
The children “appeared to be in distress and crying” as they approached the fence and were “hurl[ed]” over, “in a manner with blatant disregard for the children’s safety,” authorities wrote. One of the children later “began to vomit profusely, and all three children complained of pain in various parts of their bodies.”
Rada jumped over the fence himself, fell, and disappeared into the backyard, the court document continues. The children were later seen to be “covered in dirt stains.”
Deputies arrested the suspect at his home and brought the children to a hospital, where a doctor later “explained that all three victims had presented to the emergency room with pain in their head and abdomen and reported being involved in a traffic crash in which Rada was driving.” None of the children had any visible injuries, and as of Sunday, they were set to be released from the hospital.
Detectives later spoke with the children’s mothers, who said Rada picked them up from school on Friday and was set to spend a few days with them. One of the women said she last spoke to Rada on Saturday at about 6:30 p.m. when he said the kids “were doing well.” However, Rada’s brother later told her about the crash, authorities said.
Rada reportedly told deputies he had spent Saturday at the beach with the kids and confessed to driving them afterward. He said that the initial attempted traffic stop had caused him to get “scared.”
“Rada’s reasoning for not stopping was that he was ‘scared’ of law enforcement,” the probable cause statement reads. The suspect allegedly added that after he crashed into the ditch, “he fled … cutting across several yards during which he threw” the victims over the fence.
“Throughout the interview, Rada maintained that he knew what he did was wrong but was scared to return to prison,” the court document states.
Court records showed that Rada had been arrested at least eight times before, dating back to 2017. The charges were generally for marijuana possession and failing to appear in court, or probation violations.
Rada is listed as still in custody at the Lee County Jail, and he has an arraignment hearing scheduled for Oct. 13.
