Police say suspect tried to use Lyft as getaway car

MELBOURNE BEACH, Fla. (FOX 35 ORLANDO) - Need a ride? A suspect running from police ordered one on the Lyft App. Then, the driver helped the police nab him.

But that’s only one of the details in what police describe as a wild and crazy trail of tricks.  According to police, the fleeing felon floored it and ran over a homeowner's sprinklers. When he got handcuffed, he gave officers a fake name, they say.

The pursuit ended at Rykman Park. The suspect had his girlfriend along for the ride the whole time. Some of the chase was captured by a police dash cam. Now, 18-year-old Jancarlos Nathaniel Torres is facing a long list of charges.

Police say Torres was speeding. When an officer tried to stop him, they say he put the pedal to the metal. The officer called for back up and additional cruisers joined the pursuit in Indiatlantic. Police say Torres pulled into a neighborhood, but must have missed the sign that reads "Dead End."  Torres became trapped in the cul-de-sac and jumped a curb onto the lawn at Ken Revay’s house.

“It's just crazy and Indiatlantic is a quiet town so we’re not used to this kind of thing,” said Revay.

Police say Torres broke the man's sprinklers with his erratic driving.

“The car came to the end of the circle, there were other cars across the street here, so they just went right up into the yard and across,” Revay recounted.

After that move, the car's tires were deflating. Police say Torres sped into Melbourne Beach, but because of his erratic driving behavior and his speed, the officers disengaged. Then, police say Torres ditched the car at Rykman Park. His girlfriend, who had been riding shotgun, used her phone to order a car and it ended up being a Lyft driver.

Police say the suspect was hiding in the bushes, looking to see if the coast was clear, while waiting for his Lyft. Unbeknownst to him, the police saw the Lyft car and asked the driver to help them. When the suspect and his girlfriend got into the backseat of the Lyft, police converged on the car.

Police say Torres gave cops a false nam -- they learned his real identity through his fingerprints. They say Torres has no driver's license and had an active warrant in Osceola county for a charge of possession of a firearm by a convicted felon.Police did not charge the girlfriend.