Chauncey “Chuck” Kennon, the 18-year-old who was the top recruit in Florida State’s 2026 football class, is accused of driving a Dodge Durango past 150 mph through Hillsborough County, Florida, around 2 a.m. on Oct. 10 while a woman in the SUV asked him more than 10 times to let her out. That is the account in a Florida Highway Patrol arrest affidavit, as reported by FOX 13 Tampa Bay. Kennon is charged with aggravated fleeing to elude, false imprisonment and resisting an officer without violence. He is presumed innocent, and none of the reports I found includes a statement from him or an attorney.
What the affidavit says happened on State Road 60
An officer clocked a black Dodge SUV at 70 mph in a 50 mph zone near State Road 60 and South Maydell Drive in Tampa, according to the affidavit. As a deputy and an FHP trooper moved to catch up, the SUV went to 90 mph. The trooper turned on lights and siren, and the driver kept going.
At State Road 60 and U.S. 301 the SUV ran a red light while other vehicles were crossing, swerved, and hit a raised curb, the affidavit says. Eastbound on State Road 60 it passed 150 mph in multiple 50 mph zones. On southbound Interstate 75 a trooper’s cruiser reached 140 mph and the SUV still pulled away. At 150 mph a vehicle covers 220 feet every second, so a 300-foot football field goes by in about 1.4 seconds.
Another trooper spotted the SUV near U.S. 41 and Big Bend Road in Apollo Beach with a flat right front tire, consistent with the curb strike. It stopped on the westbound shoulder of Big Bend Road near Wyandotte Road, disabled. Dashcam video aired by WFLA shows the driver getting out and running. He ran east, then north toward an industrial plant, and troopers and deputies set a perimeter with aviation and K-9 units helping. Nobody was arrested at the scene. Investigators identified Kennon from an unlocked phone left in the SUV that held photos of him in a gold chain, which they said matched the chain in the dashcam video and his driver’s license photo. WCTV, citing court records, reported that he turned himself in on Monday, Oct. 12.
At about 3:35 a.m. a trooper found a woman with cuts on her arm and clothing covered in dirt, blood and grass, the affidavit says. She first gave investigators a different account of how she got there. After being advised of her rights, she said she had been with Kennon in Ybor City before he began driving recklessly, that she asked him more than 10 times to stop and let her out, and that he refused. She said she held onto her seat belt. Troopers cited her account, the dashcam video and their identification of Kennon as support for the charges.
How a passenger’s account becomes a second felony
Florida defines false imprisonment in Section 787.02 as restraining or confining another person “against her or his will” and without lawful authority. The statute does not require a locked door, a weapon or a hand on the person. It is a third-degree felony, which carries up to five years under Section 775.082. Troopers cited the woman’s statement that she asked to leave a moving car and was refused as support for the count…