The man who led Clearwater Police on a wild chase through the streets of Clearwater and eventually onto the sands of Clearwater Beach, broadcasting on Facebook Live for much of the time, made his first appearance in court on July 21.

  • Ryan Stiles, 27, facing 8 charges from chase on July 20
  • Stiles also damaged window in holding cell
  • Incident might have started after Stiles argued with girlfriend

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Ryan Stiles, 27, appeared before a judge in a Pinellas courtroom on Friday. Stiles chuckled when the judge talked about him shattering a window in a holding cell, and also talked back to the judge during his appearance.

"I want to see recordings of this," said Stiles.

"You want to hear recordings?" said the judge.

"Oh well. Just take me out of here. I don't want to hear this s--t anymore," Stiles answered.

Stiles faces eight charges following the crazed chase with police on July 20, a chase he streamed on Facebook Live as he was driving. Clearwater Police received a number of 911 calls about Stiles from people watching the live broadcast, including one from someone who knows Stiles.

"He's going to go out with a bang," said the caller.

"I was just horrified"

Sherri Yates, who let Stiles stay in her Clearwater home for the past two months, told us she watched the video and was shocked by what she saw.

"I was sitting there watching it and I was just horrified. The language, he sounded like he was thugish. He was totally a different person."

Yates told us that Stiles got angry on July 20 when his girlfriend insisted he see an attorney about a previous arrest.

"He says, 'I've just been thinking about it and I've decided I don't want to go,' and she said, 'You're going,'" Yates said. "And I think it agitated him and I just saw him go out the door with a duffle bag of clothes. He got in his car, he burned out of the driveway and I thought that was odd."

Yates said a short time later Stiles went on his dangerous drive. She insisted she'd never seen this side of Stiles while he lived in her home.

"Never had a problem here with him whatsoever," said Yates. "He was quiet. He showed no signs of drugs or anything like that."

Yates confirmed that Stiles is not welcome back in her home, and encouraged others to perform background checks on people before letting them move into their homes.