Good Samaritan trips suspect accused of hiding during chase in Port Charlotte

PORT CHARLOTTE, Fla. —

A Port Charlotte man was arrested after a routine traffic stop escalated into a chaotic chase that ended with him accused of hiding inside a CVS store and a good Samaritan helping deputies take him into custody.

Loretta Matthews was finally able to pick up her prescription at a CVS in Port Charlotte Wednesday after a dramatic incident involving a man accused of fleeing deputies on a bicycle and hiding in the store Tuesday afternoon.

"We thought maybe somebody robbed the pharmacy," said Matthews. "We just turned around."

Moments before, an affidavit said a Charlotte County deputy had pulled over Andrew Brown for riding his bicycle on the wrong side of US-41. Serena Rodriguez, another Port Charlotte resident, noted the frequency of bike crashes in the area, mentioning her uncle's knee injury from a bike accident.

"The bike was upside down. And there was like nobody. I was like, what's going on? Is the bike getting arrested?" Matthews said.

According to a deputy, Brown threw his bike on the ground, before he was accused of running and jumping a fence, prompting the deputy to call for backup.

"There was like 10 cop cars, oh my gosh," Matthews said.

Brown ran into the CVS off Midway Boulevard and US-41, where deputies found him and he was accused of hiding inside, pretending to be a customer. Store employees reported that deputies chased the suspect out of the CVS, and a good Samaritan tripped him into a ditch.

"Girl power!" Matthews exclaimed.

Deputies then tackled and arrested Brown, who is facing charges of fleeing, giving a false ID, and resisting without violence, unrelated to riding his bike on the wrong side of the road. He was unarmed during the incident. An affidavit revealed that a deputy had drawn a gun, fearing Brown might have a weapon, as Brown was accused of hiding behind a car in a parking lot.

"Everything would have been fine. But they ran, and then they got extra charges, and it's just a lot more drama than it had," Rodriguez said.

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