Police arrest man accused of fleeing traffic stop in Fort Myers, driving with a suspended license

Fort Myers police arrested a man on Sunday who they said fled from a traffic stop and was driving with a suspended license.

According to the Fort Myers Police Department arrest report, at around 11:56 p.m., an officer saw a vehicle traveling south on Solomon Boulevard towards Winkler Avenue. The officer saw the vehicle approach a red light and stop over the white stop bar, prompting the officer to initiate a traffic stop.

The vehicle came to a stop at the entrance of the Edison Mall parking lot on Cleveland Avenue. The officer approached the car and asked the driver to provide identification.

The driver was verbally defensive throughout the interaction, the arrest report said. The driver then told the officer he did not have his wallet with him, nor did he have any identifying documentation in the car because the car was not his.

The driver then provided a name and date of birth to the officer verbally. The officer began to walk back toward their patrol car to conduct further investigation, at which point the driver sped off through the parking lot, fleeing the traffic stop, the report said.

An investigation was conducted, and the officer was able to identify the driver as Eddie Rice, 35, after researching prior traffic stops involving the same vehicle, the report said.

Officers tracked the vehicle to an apartment complex and located Rice inside an apartment. Rice was uncooperative and unwilling to come out of the apartment at first, but after having a conversation with an officer, Rice exited the apartment and turned himself in, according to the report.

Rice was arrested and faces charges of fleeing/eluding law enforcement, giving false ID to a law enforcement officer, and driving with a suspended license.