By Mirna Alsharif -
NBC News
A Florida man was arrested for kidnapping his girlfriend's 1-year-old son and causing a police chase in which he used the child as a human shield outside a McDonald's restaurant last week, according to police.
The Flagler County Sheriff's Office responded to a house on Bunker Lane in Palm Coast, about 60 miles south of Jacksonville, on the night of September 27 after receiving a report of a possible child abduction, according to a statement. of press.
The boy's mother's boyfriend, Brandon Leohner, 27, had abducted the one-year-old boy, "and was
armed with a handgun
while driving with the boy on his lap as he left the residence," police said.
Brandon Leohner, 27, used his girlfriend's son as a human shield after kidnapping him and sparking a police chase that ended at a McDonald's restaurant in Florida. Flagler County Sheriff's Office via NBC News
Officers located Leohner shortly after he was speeding recklessly on Belle Terre Parkway and attempted to stop him.
Leohner got out of his vehicle outside a McDonald's restaurant with the boy in his arms and used him as a human shield, refusing to listen to police orders to release the minor.
After a brief confrontation, the police used a stun gun against Leohner and rescued the boy.
The man tried to flee the scene, but was unsuccessful.
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Leohner was charged with "kidnapping, use of a minor as a shield, resistance with violence, abandonment of minors, flight and evasion, and reckless driving," according to authorities.
As of Tuesday, it was not known if he had a lawyer.
Following his arrest, he was taken to a medical facility to treat his injuries and was booked into Sheriff's Perry Hall Inmate Holding Center Sunday morning, where he remains on $61,000 bail, a sheriff's office spokesman said. of Flagler County, Messod Bendayan, to NBC News, the sister network of Noticias Telemundo.
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"This is a domestic case
that turned violent
and put
endangering a one-year-old boy and innocent drivers (on the road)," Flagler County Sheriff Rick Staly said in a statement. "Fortunately, the boy was not injured and was quickly reunited with his mother." .
