A red Ford F-250 started doing burnouts in heavy traffic at U.S. 41 and Daniels Parkway in Fort Myers on Saturday, Oct. 17, right beside about 500 people holding protest signs. A Lee County Sheriff’s Office drone was filming. That’s according to the sheriff’s office arrest report, as described by WINK News. Deputies said the drone footage showed a series of burnouts.
The crowd was there for a “No Kings” rally. The Fort Myers News-Press had listed U.S. 41 and Daniels Parkway as one of the local protest sites that Saturday. WGCU reported that organizers estimated about 1,000 people at the Fort Myers rally along U.S. 41. The arrest report counted roughly 500 at the corner where the truck was.
According to the report, the truck threw off thick black smoke. Protesters fanned it away with their signs. Some left, and others walked into traffic to confront the driver. Other drivers slowed down because they couldn’t see. Deputies stopped the pickup on Daniels Parkway. The driver showed a Florida license, and records listed him as the F-250’s registered owner. Jeremy Dale Pegg, 40, of Fort Myers, was booked into the Lee County Jail on three charges: disturbing a lawful assembly, racing on highways, and reckless driving. These are accusations, and he has not been convicted of anything.
Related Articles
- Lakers vs Kings Best Cars: LeBron James’s No-Reserve Maybach Is for Sale, but He Plays for the 76ers Now
- Harry Potter’s Flying Anglia Made 41 HP, Is Either a 1962 or a 1966, and the Production Had 16 of Them
Sheriff Carmine Marceno said in a statement that his office is committed to protecting people’s right to assemble peacefully. He said a drone operator spotted the truck and sent deputies straight to it.
The racing charge looks out of place. There was one truck, no opponent and no finish line. It is also the charge that could cost Pegg the most. Since 2022, Florida law has treated a burnout on a public road as the same crime as a street race, and the penalty for a conviction includes losing your license for a year.
How a one-truck burnout became “racing on highways”
For decades, Section 316.191 covered drivers trying to outrun each other. In 2022 the Legislature passed HB 399, which added street takeovers and “stunt driving” to the offense. The state’s highway safety department says that law took effect in October 2022. The statute defines stunt driving as “to perform or engage in any burnouts, doughnuts, drifting, wheelies, or other dangerous motor vehicle activity” on a highway, roadway, or parking lot. It defines a burnout as spinning a vehicle’s wheels, whether it is parked or moving, until the tires heat up and smoke. Nothing in that definition requires a second car.
A first violation is a first-degree misdemeanor, the highest misdemeanor class in Florida. The fine is between $500 and $2,000. The statute also says the Department of Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles “shall revoke the driver license of a person so convicted for 1 year.” That revocation is required by law. The judge doesn’t decide it. A driver can ask for a hearing under the state’s hardship-license statute, s. 322.271.
The $2,000 ceiling dates to 2024. That year lawmakers passed SB 1764, which became chapter 2024-146. The House approved it 106 to 2, and the governor signed it on May 6, 2024. The House staff analysis says the bill raised the first-offense fine from $500–$1,000 to $500–$2,000, starting July 1, 2024. The highway safety department’s street-racing page still shows the old $500-to-$1,000 range. Courts apply the statute, not the website.
Two more parts of the statute matter for a driver in Pegg’s position. First, the law defines a conviction as a finding of guilt by plea or trial, “regardless of whether adjudication is withheld.” A Florida judge can withhold adjudication, which normally means the defendant isn’t formally convicted. Under this statute it still counts, so the license revocation still applies. Second, deputies may impound a vehicle used in a violation “for a period of 30 business days,” and the owner pays the cost. The department estimates towing and impound fees at $300 to $1,600 in Broward, Miami-Dade and Hillsborough counties. None of the records I reviewed say whether the F-250 was impounded.
The protest charge depends on proving intent
The other two charges are harder to prove. Florida’s disturbing-assembly statute, s. 871.01, is usually linked to churches and schools, but it also covers “any other lawful assembly.” It is a first-degree misdemeanor, and prosecutors must show the person acted willfully and maliciously. If the person also made a credible threat, the charge becomes a third-degree felony. No threat has been alleged in this case.
Reckless driving under s. 316.192 requires driving with “willful or wanton disregard for the safety of persons or property.” A first conviction carries up to 90 days in jail, a fine of $25 to $500, or both. Prosecutors would likely point to the report’s description of smoke thick enough that other drivers slowed down because they couldn’t see.
Prosecutors don’t need to prove a motive for the racing count. If the drone video shows a burnout on a public road, that is the offense. Whatever the driver thought of the people on the corner doesn’t change it. In my reading of the three statutes, the racing count is the easiest to prove and carries the heaviest penalty.
Florida keeps raising the penalties for tire smoke
The highway safety department reports 6,641 citations from 2018 through 2022 for street racing, stunt driving, or watching as a spectator. It says most of the people cited were 16 to 29. A 40-year-old in a three-quarter-ton pickup doesn’t fit that profile, and the statute doesn’t care.
The Legislature has raised the penalties twice in three years. Spectators now face a $400 noncriminal fine. A second violation within a year is a third-degree felony. Vehicles used in repeat violations within five years can be seized under the state’s Contraband Forfeiture Act. In January, Sen. Jason Pizzo, who sponsored the 2024 bill, filed SB 1538. It would have raised penalties for anyone who coordinates or facilitates these events, including through social media. The bill died in the Senate Transportation Committee on March 13, 2026.
A sheriff’s drone found the truck
According to Marceno’s statement, this arrest started in the air, not with a 911 call. The sheriff’s office runs a Drone as First Responder program, which sends drones to calls, sometimes before deputies get there. In a separate case, CBS12 reported that a Lehigh Acres man was arrested after deputies said he shot at one of the drones with a BB rifle.
Related Articles
- A SEMA Booth in Las Vegas Is Showing a $549,900 Carbon Shelby GT500CR. Two Real 1967 GT500s Cost $336,000 in Good Shape
- Mavericks vs Spurs Best Cars: Dallas Wins on Paper While Wembanyama’s Record Is a Nissan Z He Didn’t Fit In
Here’s what the drone changes: nobody has to remember a plate number. The footage puts the smoke and the crowd in the same frame. If an agency is already flying over a large public event, it will likely record any burnout there. The arrest report relies on that video for the main facts.
What happens next in Lee County court
WINK reported that Pegg was scheduled to appear in court on Nov. 2. I could not find a later docket entry or public update that shows what happened at that hearing. The docket will show whether the State Attorney’s Office filed all three charges as booked, reduced any of them, or dropped them. I found no public statement from Pegg or a defense attorney.
Here’s the catch for anyone with a loud truck and an empty parking lot. The stunt-driving ban covers “a highway, roadway, or parking lot,” so an empty shopping-center lot on a Sunday counts. The statute exempts only licensed racetracks, drag strips, and other designated areas. If Pegg is convicted on the racing count, the state is required to take his license for a year, and he would still face whatever happens with the other two charges.
One truck, no opponent, no finish line, and a conviction still means a mandatory year without a license. Is that street racing, or should the penalty be limited to people who actually race someone?
About the Author
