HCSO has been looking for 29-year-old Akinkawon Hawthorne since this past New Year’s Eve, which is when he committed an aggravated battery during a burglary after he kicked in the door of a Lake Placid home and struck a woman with a pistol. That incident also led to charges of possession of a weapon by a convicted felon (he has six felony convictions), obstruction of justice, criminal mischief and use of a two-way device to facilitate a felony.
On March 21, he fled from a traffic stop in Sebring at more than 100 mph. Due to traffic conditions, that pursuit was quickly cancelled for safety reasons, but led to charges of fleeing with disregard to safety (a felony) and resisting arrest.
On March 28, he added another felony battery charge, as well as felony child abuse and kidnapping, after he tied up a woman and struck her with a pistol and also threw a child into a wall in Lake Placid.
He also had a warrant for failure to appear on a charge of reckless driving with damage to property/person.
If you’re keeping score, that is nine felonies Hawthorne is accused of committing since New Year’s Eve.
He made it an even dozen on Monday night, but that is where his current streak will end.
Around 11:35 p.m., on Monday, March 31, Hawthorne was spotted driving on Buck Street near Mulberry Avenue in Lake Placid. He fled at high speed when the deputy tried to pull him over, but his abandoned truck was found moments later in an empty field on Lake Clay Drive.
A few minutes later, dispatch got a call about a stolen Dodge 5500 work truck from a home less than 1,000 feet from where Hawthorne abandoned his vehicle. As deputies were talking to a witness at the address the truck had been stolen from, the witness pointed and said “there it is” as the truck drove down a nearby street.
Hawthorne fled from deputies, leading them on a pursuit that began at Lake Clay Drive and Central Avenue and ended just over 14 minutes later at Aleutian St. NE and Elba Drive in Lake Placid.
Along the way, the pursuit went west on CR 29, north on US 27, through the Highway Park neighborhood, back south on US 27 and west on Lake Mirror Drive and Placid View Drive before eventually leading to Sunset Dr. NE, where Hawthorne drove off-road before getting stuck and trying to run for it.
He was quickly located and taken into custody without further incident. For his latest escapade, he was charged with grand theft of a motor vehicle, burglary, aggravated fleeing with damage, driving with a suspended/revoked license and resisting arrest. He is being held without bond in the Highlands County Jail.
