Florida brother and sister try to escape SWAT team 2-up on a scooter [Video]
What’s your idea of a fun, family-bonding adventure? Escape room? Roller coaster ride? Failing at the latest TikTok dance? I bet you didn’t say, “Fleeing a SWAT team, tandem on an electric scooter.” But a scooter police chase is exactly how Florida’s Wert siblings spent their weekend.
Our story takes place in Volusia County, Florida. This is the county where a few hot-rodders on a beach once said, “Hold my beer and watch this!”—and NASCAR was born. But on Saturday, April 26, the Volusia Sheriff’s Office was far too busy to make it to Daytona International Speedway.
Multiple officers from VSO SWAT, the West Volusia Narcotics Task Force, Overdose Task Force, Volusia Bureau of Investigation, and Deltona Narcotics Enforcement Team joined forces for “a search warrant in an ongoing investigation into drug sales out of 357 Lingering Lane, DeLand.”
The target was James Burges, 35. When the fuzz arrived, the suspect leapt into his girlfriend’s car and raced down the road. And in the process, he abandoned his girlfriend and her brother. Nicole Wert, 34, and her brother may have missed their ride with Burges. But they weren’t sticking around to wait for the police. The Florida siblings jumped onto an electric scooter and took off—very slowly.
An electric scooter is slower than a Florida SWAT team, much slower
If you’ve ever tried to ride two-up on an electric scooter, you know they are definitely designed for one person. With two full-sized adults, a scooter has all the get-up-and-go of a Florida gator sunbathing in July and the top speed of an Everglades flamingo wearing flip-flops.
The fugitives, in their matching jean shorts, tried to make a beeline out of the neighborhood. But a retiree in a golf cart could have caught them. And they were fleeing a full SWAT team with a helicopter. To make it even easier on authorities, Nicole took the first turn too sharply, and her brother toppled off the back of the scooter. The crash took her down too. Officers found them flopping on the ground like mullet fish on a Pensacola dock.
SWAT caught Burges even faster. The Sheriff said, “In the vehicle, detectives found a trafficking amount of fentanyl, powder cocaine, and pills, as well as a loaded firearm… Burges is also in jail with no bond on charges of armed trafficking in fentanyl, possession of a firearm and ammunition by a convicted felon, possession of cocaine with intent to sell, possession of alprazolam, renting a structure for drug sales, possession of narcotic paraphernalia, driving with a suspended license, and failure to appear warrants.”
Nicole Wert didn’t fare much better. “Wert was charged with sale and delivery of fentanyl (no bond). The brother has not been charged at this time.”
The good news is that the Florida State police helicopter got some very entertaining footage of the Wert siblings’ short-lived scooter escape attempt. You can see the video yourself, embedded below:
