A Florida teenager riding a motorcycle with a fake plate reading “WILL RUN” turned a traffic stop into a multi-county pursuit after deputies say he fled, circled back to taunt officers, and then sped away at highway speeds before finally being arrested.
In a report by the bodycam footage YouTube channel Code Blue Cam, the case was described as beginning around 6:42 p.m. on March 12, 2024, in the Port Orange area of Volusia County, Florida, where a sergeant spotted three sport bikes riding recklessly on a busy road.
According to the Code Blue Cam report, the riders were seen popping wheelies and riding on their rear tires. At first, it looked like a fairly typical reckless-driving stop, but the situation changed quickly when the sergeant noticed one of the plates.
One gray motorcycle had a tag that read “WILL RUN.”
That would have been a bad joke under almost any circumstance, but the sergeant said he recognized the tag from Daytona Bike Week, held just days earlier, when the same bike had allegedly fled from deputies.
The rider was later identified as 19-year-old Ashtin Jarvis of New Smyrna Beach.
A Plate That Seemed To Say Everything
The Code Blue Cam host said the sergeant initially followed the three bikes and tried to gather information rather than immediately forcing a confrontation. The sergeant noted that one of the motorcycles had no visible tag, while the gray bike’s “WILL RUN” plate did not appear to be legitimate.
Over the radio, the sergeant said the tag seemed to read “W I L L R U N,” but he was not sure it was a real plate. Dispatch advised that the plate came back to an expired registration on a black Chevrolet, not the motorcycle.
That detail mattered because Jarvis later told officers the fake tag was something he had seen online. According to the footage, he said he thought it was funny and bought it on Amazon, while his real plate was at home.
The humor, if it ever was humor, did not survive contact with the criminal charges.
As the sergeant tried to stop the group, Jarvis and another rider took off, leaving a third motorcyclist behind. The sergeant was able to stop that rider, who had a passenger on the back, and the conversation quickly showed why police were concerned before the chase even grew larger.
The stopped rider asked what he had done, and the sergeant told him he had watched him do a wheelie on Dunlawton Avenue with a girl riding behind him. When the rider later said he was “being dumb,” the sergeant did not soften the warning.
“What are you going to do when she dies?” the sergeant asked, pointing out how easily a stunt could have turned into a fatal crash.
That is one of the more grounded moments in the video. The chase gets louder and more dramatic later, but this early exchange explains the public-safety problem better than any lecture could: these were not tricks in an empty parking lot, but risky stunts in traffic with other people exposed to the consequences.
The Rider Who Came Back To Taunt Deputies
According to Code Blue Cam, Jarvis did not simply flee and disappear. The host said that after escaping the initial stop, Jarvis returned with another rider and began circling back near officers, apparently to taunt them.
Bodycam and radio traffic showed deputies reacting as the motorcycles came back through the area. The sergeant said they were eastbound doing wheelies again, while another officer described Jarvis as having come back to “talk” them a little more.
The stopped rider insisted he did not know the others and had met them randomly at a gas station, but the sergeant was clearly skeptical about the group’s behavior. Still, the deputy stayed focused on the rider he had already stopped while other units began trying to locate Jarvis.
A lieutenant, who was off duty, joined the effort and followed the fleeing motorcycles. According to the footage, deputies tried to track Jarvis and the other rider as they moved through Daytona Beach and toward a convenience store.
Code Blue Cam reported that officers later learned the group had been headed to Buc-ee’s. Deputies went there, but Jarvis and the other rider allegedly fled again when law enforcement tried to make contact.
This is where the case stopped being a foolish traffic violation and became something far more serious. Running once from police is dangerous enough; returning to show off, then fleeing again, suggests a level of confidence that often collapses the moment a helicopter gets involved.
Air Support Followed What Ground Units Could Not
As deputies lost sight of the motorcycle, Volusia County’s Air One helicopter found Jarvis from above and began tracking him. The Code Blue Cam report said the teen was seen running red lights, weaving through vehicles, and riding recklessly while ground units tried to catch up.
At one point, a deputy noted that Jarvis appeared to be traveling around 130 mph and pulling away from officers. Another said the rider likely hoped that if he gained enough distance, no one would know where he was.
The problem for Jarvis was that the helicopter camera reached much farther than a patrol car could safely follow.
Air One continued calling out his movements as Jarvis crossed into Seminole County. By then, Sanford police were also being alerted. Officers said pursuit and stop sticks were not authorized at that moment, which meant they had to rely on tracking, coordination, and waiting for Jarvis to make a mistake.
He eventually did.
The helicopter crew reported that Jarvis went into a wooded area, where the bike’s heat signature was visible. Officers believed he might have dumped something in the woods, but he soon came back out and continued moving.
Later, he stopped at a 7-Eleven, apparently low on fuel, before getting back on the motorcycle. That stop gave officers a better chance to close in.
“I’m Just A Kid,” He Said As Officers Moved In
When Sanford officers finally confronted Jarvis, the footage showed him still on the bike as officers ordered him to shut it off and get down. One officer had him at gunpoint while another moved in.
Jarvis repeatedly said, “I’m just a kid,” and told officers he gave up.
The officers did not accept that as an excuse. One told him he was “playing big boy games,” while another pointed out the obvious irony of the “WILL RUN” tag, saying it should have read “will get caught.”
The exchange was blunt, but not surprising. A rider who allegedly fled at extreme speeds, crossed jurisdictions, blew through lights, and risked other drivers’ lives cannot realistically expect police to treat the arrest like a misunderstanding just because he is 19.
According to the footage, officers seized Jarvis’s GoPro as evidence. They also told him he was facing charges in multiple counties and that the motorcycle would be towed because it had been used in the commission of felonies.
Jarvis told officers he ran because he was scared and said he did not know what to do. But officers pushed back, especially given the earlier taunting and the fact that he had allegedly fled from deputies during Bike Week.
One officer told him that running was never the smart move because there was in-car video, helicopter video, and enough evidence to show what happened.
His Family Tried To Understand What Happened
When Jarvis’s mother and sister arrived, officers explained what they said had unfolded. According to the footage, a deputy told them Jarvis had run from Flagler, Volusia, Seminole, and Sanford law enforcement agencies, leaving him with multiple felony fleeing and eluding charges.
His mother asked whether he knew he was being pursued and suggested the plate had been a joke. The deputy answered directly, saying Jarvis was well aware officers were behind him and that the “WILL RUN” tag fit a broader culture of riders filming themselves fleeing police.
The same deputy also rejected the idea that Jarvis was merely scared. He told the family that scared people do not come back and do wheelies in an intersection to taunt law enforcement.
The tone was harsh, but the point was hard to avoid. Fear may explain a poor first reaction, but it does not explain circling back, running repeatedly, and continuing across county lines.
Jarvis later told a Volusia County sergeant that he ran because he got scared when the sergeant stepped out and tried to stop him. The sergeant reminded him that he had been in full uniform with a visible badge and that Jarvis and the others had already recognized him as police earlier.
When the sergeant asked why Jarvis returned to circle the intersection after fleeing, Jarvis claimed the other rider suggested they go back to help their friend. The sergeant openly called that explanation unbelievable.
Felony Charges And A Long Fall From A Bad Joke
According to Code Blue Cam, Jarvis was charged across Volusia and Seminole counties with multiple counts of fleeing and attempting to elude, including fleeing at high speed, along with possession of a counterfeit license plate, counterfeit motor vehicle registration, resisting or obstructing an officer, reckless driving, and altering a license plate validation sticker.
The report said his total bond for both cases was set at $199,150.
Eventually, according to the channel’s update, Jarvis was found guilty of four counts of fleeing and attempting to elude and counterfeit motor vehicle registration. The remaining charges were dismissed.
He was sentenced to six months in jail, 48 months of probation, a two-year driver’s license revocation, and community service.
It is difficult to miss the lesson in a case like this. A fake “WILL RUN” plate may have been meant as a joke or a bit of biker bravado, but once Jarvis actually ran, it became evidence of intent in the eyes of everyone watching.
The entire incident reads like a young man trying to turn a traffic stop into a performance. But helicopters, dashcams, bodycams, radios, and multiple agencies turned that performance into a criminal case.
By the end, the plate was not funny, the chase was not harmless, and the excuse that he was “just a kid” did not undo the danger created on the road.
Mark grew up in the heart of Texas, where tornadoes and extreme weather were a part of life. His early experiences sparked a fascination with emergency preparedness and homesteading. A father of three, Mark is dedicated to teaching families how to be self-sufficient, with a focus on food storage, DIY projects, and energy independence. His writing empowers everyday people to take small steps toward greater self-reliance without feeling overwhelmed.
