When police signaled Albert Dale Searcy to pull over, he did something much dumber. He leapt from the moving vehicle, leaving his wife and three children struggling to stop the car. Meanwhile, Searcy tumbled along the pavement, leaving him bruised and bloodied. And it’s allegedly not the first dumb thing he did that day.

A daughter’s 911 call

Searcy remains a suspect in these alleged crimes. The Washington County Sheriff’s Office received a 911 call from a minor’s cellphone. The girl reported she was in the back seat of her parents’ car while they fought as the vehicle moved down the road. She described the car and named the road before the call disconnected.

The police department understandably decided to do a welfare check. When a deputy spotted the vehicle on Highway 79, they activated lights and sirens to pull Searcy over.

Even if he had done nothing wrong, Searcy’s best option would have been to stop and fight any charges in court. Trying to outrun police is never smart—especially with your wife and children in the car. But Searcy’s response was an odd hybrid of the two. Deputies say he fled briefly, then “opened the driver’s door and jumped from the moving vehicle.”

Wife and three children trapped in a moving car

Heather Searcy found herself in the passenger seat of the still-moving car, her three children in the back. “Mom strength” turned into “mom agility” as she crawled over the center console and stopped the vehicle. Deputies found Albert Searcy nearby, his face bloodied from a severe case of road rash.

Heather told deputies that officers “observed signs consistent with a physical altercation, including apparent injuries to [her] face.” She said she had asked her husband to “stop the vehicle and allow her and the children to exit.” She added that he refused.

She also said that after her daughter called 911, Albert “struck” the girl and took the phone.

The family told authorities they had briefly tried to live in Florida’s panhandle and were driving home to Louisiana. Moves can be stressful, and there are usually two sides to a story. But jumping from a moving vehicle and leaving your family to crash reflects poorly on Albert.

He faces charges of tampering with or harassing a witness, domestic violence battery, fleeing or attempting to elude a law enforcement officer, resisting arrest without violence, child abuse, false imprisonment, and driving with a suspended or revoked license.