A Florida Highway Patrol Dodge Charger in a file photo, not a vehicle from this case. Photo: Rich Menga / Wikimedia Commons (CC BY 2.0)
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.
The two main counts rest on different kinds of proof. The red light, the curb strike and the foot chase are on dashcam video, and the speeds come from the affidavit. The false imprisonment count depends on one person’s account, and the affidavit itself says that account changed once. Whether prosecutors file the count as arrested is not known yet.
WCTV reported that a judge set bond at $5,000 on the false imprisonment count, $2,500 on the fleeing count and $500 on the resisting count, and ordered Kennon to have no contact with the woman and to stay in Hillsborough County. The bond on the fleeing count is half the bond on the count that depends on her testimony.
What aggravated fleeing carries without a crash or an injury
Section 316.1935 sets fleeing a marked patrol vehicle with lights and siren on at a third-degree felony. Add driving at high speed or with wanton disregard for the safety of people or property, and it becomes a second-degree felony, with a ceiling of 15 years under Section 775.082. No injury or collision is required. A collision that causes serious bodily injury or death moves it to a first-degree felony with a three-year mandatory minimum, and the reports I read describe no such charge here.
A conviction under the first four subsections of that statute also requires the court to revoke the driver license for at least one year and no more than five. Resisting an officer without violence, under Section 843.02, is a first-degree misdemeanor with a one-year ceiling. Those are statutory maximums, not predictions, and a judge sets the sentence.
Florida State’s statement, and a second chase the same Saturday
FOX 13 reported that a university spokesperson said Kennon was dismissed from the football program for “conduct detrimental to the team.” The school did not confirm a link to the arrest. He played one snap this season, against Virginia on Oct. 3.
Later that same Saturday, FHP says a Corvette left I-275 at the State Road 56 exit near Wesley Chapel at about 130 mph with a trooper behind it. That driver was also charged with aggravated fleeing to elude, which makes two Tampa Bay high-speed pursuit arrests within about a day of each other.
What happens next in Hillsborough County
The reports I found list no court dates. An arrest affidavit is the police agency’s account, and the State Attorney’s Office decides which charges to file, so the final counts can differ from the ones on the jail record. As of WCTV’s Oct. 14 report, Kennon was in custody in Hillsborough County, and the coverage does not say whether he has posted bond.
If a driver runs from troopers at 150 mph with a passenger asking to get out, should prosecutors add a false imprisonment charge on top of the fleeing charge, or is the fleeing charge already the whole offense?
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