Man arrested for driving recklessly through GPD parking lot

Press release from Gainesville Police Department

According to Gainesville Police Department (GPD), on Sunday, May 3rd, at approximately 4:50 p.m., a vehicle recklessly drove into the south parking lot of the GPD, almost striking several vehicles in the parking lot.

The vehicle stopped short of hitting Officer David Rodriguez’s parked vehicle. The driver, later identified as John Broskey, a 23-year-old white male, began yelling at Officer Rodriguez and acted irrationally.

Officer Rodriguez exited his vehicle and began giving Broskey verbal commands to exit his vehicle, which Broskey refused. Broskey then quickly accelerated and drove though the lot, including an area where several officers were standing for a briefing. Broskey drove over curbs and bushes that were a barrier between the GPD campus and the Rails to Trails.

Broskey continued to drive recklessly down the Rails to Trails path, driving over traffic barriers and a stop sign, damaging both. Officers pursued Broskey until his vehicle became disabled at 100 NE 7th Ave. Broskey spontaneously told officers that he had been smoking methamphetamine and wanted to get some help. He had already driven to the Alachua County Jail to get attention, and when that did not work, he tried speeding by marked law enforcement cruisers on the highway. This also did not work, so he decided to drive through GPD’s Headquarters. Broskey was arrested for resisting an officer without violence, fleeing, and attempting to elude and was transported to the County Jail.