A decorated Flagler County Sheriff’s Office detective has been suspended for fleeing an Ormond Beach traffic stop on his way to work, officials said.
Det. Ardit Coma, 28, was traveling along U.S. 1 in a gray Ford Taurus around 8 a.m. last Thursday when an Ormond officer clocked him allegedly going 88 in a 55 mph zone.
The officer flipped his marked police vehicle around and turned on his lights and sirens, but Coma failed to stop, papers state.
He dipped between lanes and drove around other cars, indicating that he knew he was purposefully fleeing, officials said.
The pursuing officer ceased the chase and alerted his dispatch and colleagues.
Stop sticks were thenarrayed ahead of Coma’s path, but he drove around them before finally coming to a stop further down the road.
He told an Ormond officer that he was unaware that a fellow law enforcement officer was pursuing him.
That explanation failed to pass muster, and Coma — who was in full uniform — was taken to the Ormond Beach Police Department for processing.
He is now facing a felony charge of fleeing and eluding law enforcment and has been suspended pending the outcome of the case.
“Sheriff Rick Staly expects our employees to follow the law,” Flagler County Sheriff’s Office Chief of Staff Mark Strobridge said a release “When a deputy’s alleged actions rise to the level of an arrest, we act swiftly, as this type of behavior is not representative of the values or expectations of the Sheriff’s Office. We also believe in the criminal justice system which provides Detective Coma due process just like anyone else.”
Coma, who joined the agency in 2023, received a pair of commendations in 2024 — one for saving an unresponsive man in the throes of an overdose, and another for rescuing a woman suffering hypothermia while during a mental health episode in a wooded area.
