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DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. (WFLA) — Video of a man in gym shorts helping police apprehend a fleeing driver recently appeared on the ‘For You’ pages of millions of TikTok users. It turns out that casually dressed man was Volusia County Sheriff Mike Chitwood.
On Thursday, deputies pulled over a driver, later identified as Michael Becht, 23, in Deltona, according to a post on the sheriff’s office Facebook page.
Becht reportedly told deputies he was going to drive to a nearby parking lot to avoid blocking traffic, but he allegedly took off as soon as their backs were turned. A sheriff’s office helicopter spotted the car on Interstate-4 and a chase ensued.
Footage from the helicopter shows the car blowing through red lights, weaving through traffic and swerving to avoid stop sticks set out by deputies on its way to Daytona Beach. It finally came to a stop at the intersection of Nova and Beville roads, which is where the viral TikTok clip begins.
The video, filmed from a nearby vehicle, shows a gray SUV tap the back of a black Mercedes to block it in. A man wearing a green t-shirt, with what appeared to be a holster in his blue athletic shorts, exited the SUV and approached the driver’s window. The man, alongside two officers, pulled the driver out of the car and put him on the ground.
The viral clip has racked up over 10 million views and 619,000 likes since it was posted on Thursday, with thousands of commenters pointing out the man who looked out of place next to law enforcement.
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“I was like who is that old man and then realized it was Chitwood!!” one of the top comments reads.
“Before I saw the cop on the other side, I was thinking— g****** Grandpa is strapped!” another read.
“I was confused about pawpaw until I read the comments,” another user wrote.
The Volusia County Sheriff’s Office said Chitwood was on his way home from a baseball game when he joined the chase. His green t-shirt was representing the Daytona Tortugas.
“Becht confessed to and apologized for his actions,” the sheriff’s office wrote. He was charged with fleeing law enforcement and driving with a suspended license and was booked into the Volusia County Jail on a $5,500 bond.
