Holly MatkinDaytona Beach, FL – A gang member convicted of killing an elderly man in a hit-and-run crash was out of prison for only two months before he led police on another high-speed pursuit (video below).
Although it wasn’t 25-year-old John Mai’s first arrest since his prison release, he is already out of jail and back on the streets, having posted $12,500 bail, the Volusia County Sheriff’s Office (VCSO) said in a press release.
The felon’s most recent run-in with law enforcement occurred on March 16, after the VCSO’s helicopter, Air One, notified deputies on the ground that it was “following a suspicious vehicle,” the agency said.
A deputy out on patrol spotted the vehicle at approximately 10:35 p.m., and tried to initiate a traffic stop.
That’s when the driver, later identified as Mai, stomped on the accelerator.
Dashcam, bodycam, and aerial footage released by the VCSO showed Mai’s vehicle as it blasted down the roadway, swerving around other motorists.
At one intersection, Mai nearly collided with another vehicle as he turned right and sped away again.
Deputies deflated his tires with stop sticks, but Mai continued to barrel down the street with sparks shooting out behind him.
He ultimately crashed into a porch in the 200-block of North Caroline Street, an took off on foot towards a nearby apartment complex, the VCSO said.
Meanwhile, a passenger in his vehicle bailed out and ran away in the opposite direction, the video showed.
Air One radioed Mai’s location to ground units, who quickly converged on him and took him into custody.
The passenger was not apprehended, the VCSO said.
Mai was charged with leaving the scene of a crash with damage, fleeing or attempting to elude law enforcement, possession of less than 20 grams of marijuana, resisting an officer without violence, and possession of drug paraphernalia.
He was out of jail by the following morning.
The career criminal was first arrested for resisting an officer when he was just 11 years old, the Daytona Beach News-Journal reported.
He had already been arrested four times for stealing vehicles and had fled from police on at least three prior occasions when he took off from an attempted traffic stop on Jan. 9, 2010.
Mai was 17 years old at the time.
The deputies were not authorized to chase after him, so Mai sped off in the stolen vehicle.
A short while later, he slammed into a vehicle being driven by 72-year-old Paul Outzen.
Outzen and one of his dogs were killed in the violent collision, Volusia County Sheriff Mike Chitwood said.
Mai was sentenced to 10 years in prison for vehicular homicide, grand theft auto, and aggravated fleeing, but was released on Jan. 18 after serving only seven-and-one-half years of his sentence.
By March 7, he was back in jail for traveling 63 miles per hour in a 45-mile-per-hour zone and driving with a revoked, suspended, or canceled license.
The multi-jurisdictional, high-speed pursuit took place just 10 days later.
“Thank God no one lost their life in this dangerous encore performance from a guy who’s already killed one innocent person,” Sheriff Chitwood tweeted after Mai’s arrest. “John Mai has more than proven he doesn’t deserve the privilege of driving on our roads.
“We are going to throw everything we can to have him stay in jail and keep him off the streets as long as we can,” Sheriff Chitwood told The Daytona Beach News-Journal.
You can watch aerial, dashcam, and bodycam footage of the pursuit and arrest in the video below: