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Published on Wednesday, February 19, 2003
in the Florida Times-Union
WESLEY CHAPEL, Fla. -- A couple involved in a police chase ended a standoff with authorities on Interstate 75 when they disrobed and ran out of their borrowed truck, the Florida Highway Patrol said.
Nicholas Daicoff, 29, was charged Tuesday with fleeing and attempting to elude police, domestic battery, leaving the scene of a crash and resisting an officer without violence. He was being held without bail at the Land O' Lakes jail.
He was accused of hitting his wife, Louisa Meyer, 28, during the chase, and telling her to strip her clothes during a 45-minute standoff with officers because it would make the problem go away, the FHP said.
The ordeal began when trooper Chris Todd saw a Ford F-150 pickup truck with a missing tire and started to pursue it near the Hernando-Pasco county line.
The right front rim sparked as the truck sped along at 85 mph, but the driver, Daicoff, wouldn't stop, the FHP said. The tire had come off during a hit-and-run crash in Sumter County on I-75, troopers said.
Three motorists also called 911 to complain that a man in a Ford truck was beating a woman passenger, FHP said.
Once the truck stopped, Todd saw Daicoff punching Meyer in the face and body, officials said. Todd used a loudspeaker to order Daicoff to exit the truck, but the couple just sat inside because Daicoff refused to leave the truck he had borrowed from his roommate.
As deputies and troopers surrounded the vehicle, the couple removed their clothing and threw it out the truck's window.
Just before 5:30 p.m., Meyer got out and ran toward troopers, but Daicoff's screams of "I love you" caused her to stop, the FHP said. When Daicoff tried to run after her, officials intercepted and arrested him.
Meyer suffered abrasions to her face, neck and arm but refused medical treatment. She said she agreed to take off her clothes out of desperation, the FHP said.
Daicoff, of St. Pete Beach, is a licensed contractor who married Meyer in November, records showed.