Florida Woman Allegedly Drives Rental RAV4 120 MPH Because Passenger Was Late For Court
Of course, getting in a car chase ended up making him even later.
Taking a friend to court on time is a perfectly reasonable favor. Trying to make up for potentially missing that appointment by testing out the V-max of a Toyota RAV4 on public roads is considerably harder to explain. According to police in Florida, that's exactly what one woman did. Not only did she go to jail, but her court-bound passenger went, too. Hey, at least he ended up in the building he was planning on going to.
As Guessing Headlights first brought to light, the situation went down on October 29. Police said a trooper clocked a 2025 RAV4 at 120 mph on Interstate 95 in Volusia County. That trooper, Rickie R. Zigler, says he accelerated to 131 mph just to catch up. When he did, the RAV4 driver pulled over, and he took her to his car. This is where things go from criminal to somewhat comical and yet not unserious.
That driver, 22-year-old Medjine Carmelie Francois, said one of her passengers was running late for right around its top speed. The trouble with that strategy, other than now making everyone later, is that it drew even more attention to said passenger while also putting Francois in massive legal trouble.
Charged under Florida's Super Speeder law
Florida now has a somewhat infamous Super Speeder law that sends anyone caught going over 100 mph or 50 mph above the speed limit to jail. According to the report, passenger Keyshawn Charles Bennett, also 22, had a hearing scheduled just seven minutes after the trooper first spotted the Toyota. He also had two outstanding felony warrants for failing to appear in court in that same case.
Troopers arrested Bennett on those warrants and Francois on a charge of driving at least 50 mph over the limit. Both went to the Volusia County Jail, and the Toyota was towed. Francois' bond was listed at $500, but she's likely on the hook for much more. The RAV4 in question was a rental, and the rental car company doesn't get a special exemption to just go pick it up whenever this sort of thing happens. On top of that, if Francois is convicted, she faces up to 30 days in jail, a $500 fine, or both. Hey, at least we now know the latest RAV4 can hit 120.