Man clinging to back of UPS truck was suspect fleeing cops, Florida sheriff says

A suspect on the run was caught in an unusual way, when a 911 caller reported a man clinging to the back of a UPS truck in traffic, according to investigators in Florida.

It happened Thursday, July 3, in Palm Coast and a photo shows the man was conspicuously seated on the bumper, with both hands resting the door handle.

“Deputies responded to a shoplifting at Lowe’s in Palm Coast after a man attempted to steal nearly $1,500 in merchandise. However, the suspect abandoned the items and ran before deputies arrived,” the Flagler County Sheriff’s Office wrote in a July 7 news release.

“Shortly after, we received a call from a concerned citizen who saw a man riding on the back of a UPS truck on Palm Coast Parkway.”

The UPS driver “eventually stopped” and demanded the guy get off his bumper, “which he did,” the sheriff’s office said.

The county’s real time crime center staff then began tracking the man’s movements, revealing he and the shoplifting suspect were one and the same, officials said.

Deputies “quickly located” the 31-year-old man and arrested him on a charge of felony shoplifting/grand theft, with $15,000 bond, officials said. He lives in Holly Hill, about a 30-mile drive south from Palm Coast.

“Thanks to a citizen seeing something and saying something,” Flagler County Sheriff Rick Staly said in the news release. “He tried to get away on a UPS truck, but instead earned himself free same-day delivery to (jail).”

Palm Coast is about a 60-mile drive southeast from Jacksonville.

This story was originally published July 8, 2025 at 2:33 PM with the headline "Man clinging to back of UPS truck was suspect fleeing cops, Florida sheriff says."