The driver of a green BMW was returning to the car with his three passengers after a traffic stop in Florida last week when he put his hand behind his back and used his fingers to make a gun gesture. He was trying to get the attention of the sheriff’s deputies who had pulled him for speeding, he later told the officers. He was in danger. An MP noticed the sign and called the man. The speeding was intentional, the driver told police – the passengers were holding him hostage and this was his first chance to ask for help. “Deputies searched the vehicle and found weapons, knives and large quantities of cash,” Martin’s sheriff’s office said in a Facebook post. Arrest reports say the three passengers robbed the victim, who is a dog breeder, and forced him at gunpoint to drive to get the puppies to Fort Lauderdale. The men – Tsdekiel Sellers, 22; Benyahveen Radcliffe, 25; and Kashaveeyah Bragdon, 22 – They have been arrested and are facing several charges, including kidnapping, aggravated assault and unlawful possession of a firearm, according to court records. They are being held in Martin County Jail and have no lawyers yet, according to court records. Radcliffe and Sellers first interacted with the victim at his home in Port St. Lucy on June 14, according to a report from the Port St. Lucy Police Department, which assisted with the investigation. After Bragdon left them, the couple tried to break into the victim’s house, but the victim “developed a trick” to get them out, he told police. He did not contact law enforcement after the incident. The trio reportedly returned the next day around 2:30 p.m. The victim told police he heard a “loud banging noise” and then saw the handle on his back door on the floor. Sellers, who is from Atlanta, and Radcliffe, who is from Buffalo, allegedly broke in and were armed. “They started looting the house”, an arrest According to the report, they filled items in several bags, including $ 10,000 in cash, and asked the victim about the dogs he was raising. After being told the dogs were at his aunt’s house in Fort Lauderdale, Sellers and Radcliffe forced the victim at gunpoint to get into his car and instructed him to drive, the report said. Bragdon, who hails from Tallahassee and allegedly drove the other two suspects to the victim’s home, told police he followed them in his car. After a few stops, all three suspects got into the victim’s car and reportedly instructed him to drive to Fort Lauderdale to pick up the puppies. That’s when the dog breeder came up with his plan, the report says. Knowing that police often patrol a particular intersection on Interstate 95 in Martin County, the victim decided he would drive 15 miles above the speed limit to get their attention, he told officers. A deputy sheriff pulled them around 8:40 p.m. and told the men to get out of the BMW as another MP circled the car in a K-9. Police then issued a written warning to the victim, saying he and his passengers were free to go, the report said. The victim then threw the signal by hand, the deputy said. “He stated that the passengers of the car were holding him against his will for several days and [he] “he could not call 911,” the report said, adding that the victim told them that “there were many firearms hidden in the car and that he was afraid the other three men would use them against him.” Deputies searched the BMW and found weapons in the rear seat armrest and locker and a steak knife in Radcliffe’s hood pocket, according to an arrest report. When asked by lawmakers, Radcliffe reportedly said the men knew each other because they were part of a group called Israelis and said they went to Florida to meet women. Bragdon told police he “never had a gun at the time of the incident,” according to a report. Law enforcement officials noted that the suspect “was very cooperative during the investigation and wrote an apology to the victim and allowed the [sheriff’s] office to download the data to his mobile device of his own free will. “ Records do not say when Bragdon, Radcliffe and Sellers will return to court. The Sellers’s bond was set at $ 2.55 million, the Radcliffe bond at $ 2.2 million and the Bragdon bond at $ 700,000, a deputy sheriff in the county jail told the Washington Post.
