A man who ran from an initial traffic stop carjacked a vehicle with a baby inside, was shot by a Sumter County deputy during the escape and then led authorities on a three-county chase, troopers said.

  • Two men were pulled over in Sumter, troopers say
  • Deputies: One took off on foot, later carjacking his mother's vehicle
  • An infant was inside the sedan, but wasn't injured in the chase and crash

The incident began at about 12:42 p.m. Tuesday when a Florida Highway Patrol trooper initiated a traffic stop of a 2003 Toyota sedan. The driver of that vehicle, Dillion Martin, 23, of Floral City, was taken into custody during the stop, but a second person fled the scene on foot, deputies said.

The Florida Highway Patrol requested assistance from the Sumter County Sheriff's Office to track the fleeing suspect.

Sumter County dogs tracked the second man, identified by troopers as 27-year-old Douglas John Martin, 27, and set up a perimeter. A deputy assigned to the perimeter witnessed someone run from a wooded area and jump into the passenger side of a 2003 Chevrolet Malibu.

According to the Sumter deputies, the man physically assaulted the female driver and forcibly removed her, carjacking the vehicle. The woman screamed that her child was in the back seat, a report states.

Deputies later found out that woman was suspect's mother.

The Sumter deputy tried to remove Martin from the driver's seat, but Martin reportedly accelerated, dragging the deputy with him, troopers said.

"While being (dragged), the deputy fired his weapon, striking the suspect and (was) able to free himself from being (dragged)," the Sheriff's Office said. According to FHP, Martin was shot twice in the stomach. The deputy was uninjured.

With the baby in the vehicle, Martin fled northbound on Interstate 75 into Marion County. He exited I-75 at State Road 200, traveling southbound into Citrus County, where at East Olive Lane, he lost control of the car. Martin's vehicle traveled into a ditch and hit an embankment.

The infant wasn't hurt and returned to the parents, troopers said.

Martin was airlifted to a hospital for treatment.

The Florida Department of Law Enforcement has been called in to investigate the deputy-involved shooting.


Members of the Sumter and Citrus County Sheriff's Offices and the Florida Highway Patrol pursued the vehicle, which crashed into an embankment in Citrus, troopers said. (FHP)

Authorities have not announced the connection Douglas and Dillion Martin have to one another, or if the infant is related.