Dad jumps out of moving car after daughter calls 911 to report her parents fighting during highway drive:
Background: Highway 79 in Washington County, Fla. (Google Maps). Inset: Albert Dale Searcy (Washington County Sheriff's Office).
A Florida man was arrested after allegedly attacking his wife and daughter inside a moving car—then jumping out of the vehicle when he realized his daughter had called 911 for help.
According to the Washington County Sheriff’s Office, 46-year-old Albert Dale Searcy faces multiple charges including child abuse, domestic violence battery, false imprisonment, and attempting to elude law enforcement.
Deputies said they received a call Monday from a young girl reporting that her parents were fighting while she, her two siblings, and her parents were traveling along Highway 79 in Washington County. Before the call was disconnected, the girl managed to tell dispatchers where they were and describe the vehicle.
Responding deputies soon located the car. When they signaled for the driver to stop, Searcy allegedly kept going before suddenly opening the driver’s door and leaping out of the moving vehicle. Deputies stopped their cruiser and chased him down on foot, taking him into custody a short time later.
Meanwhile, Heather Searcy, Albert’s wife, managed to climb over the center console and bring the car under control before pulling over. Deputies said she showed visible injuries “consistent with a physical altercation.”
Heather told investigators that her husband had refused to stop the car despite her pleas to let her and the children out. She said he struck her—and then hit their daughter after realizing she had called 911. The family had reportedly been traveling from Louisiana, where they had recently lived, to a new residence in Florida.
Emergency responders treated the family at the scene and cleared them medically.
Searcy was booked into the Washington County Jail, where he remains held without bond on a list of charges that includes child abuse, domestic violence battery, false imprisonment, witness tampering, fleeing law enforcement, resisting arrest, and driving with a suspended license.
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