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Man on probation arrested for burglary and aggravated assault after allegedly entering a home and then trying to hit another vehicle while fleeing

BY JENNIFER CABRERA

GAINESVILLE, Fla. – James Russell Davis, 47, was arrested yesterday evening after allegedly walking into an occupied house, then fleeing from officers on NW 39th Avenue and intentionally trying to hit another vehicle several times.

At about 1:00 p.m. on Sunday, Gainesville Police Department officers responded to a call from a person who had heard someone in the kitchen downstairs and called out, causing the intruder to leave. The victim’s camera reportedly showed Davis walking into the carport, picking up a cooler, shaking it, and putting it back down. Davis then allegedly walked to the kitchen door, looked through the glass door, opened the door, and entered the kitchen. Once inside, he reportedly picked up an item from a table, then looked at packages on the kitchen island that showed the victim’s and others’ names. The victim called out from upstairs, and Davis turned, walked out of the home, and left in his car.

Davis was later seen driving eastbound on NW 39th Avenue at about 5:10 p.m., and two patrol officers turned on their lights and sirens. Davis allegedly drove around multiple vehicles and broke several traffic laws to avoid apprehension.

At about 6:15 p.m., Davis reportedly swerved into a lane occupied by another victim’s vehicle in the 1900 block of NW 13th Street and almost hit the victim’s vehicle. The victim reportedly had to drive over the center median into the opposite lane of travel to avoid being hit by Davis.

The victim turned around to return to the northbound lane, and Davis also allegedly turned around and followed the victim, intentionally attempting to hit the victim’s rear bumper. The victim took evasive action to avoid being hit.

After multiple citizens boxed in Davis’ car at 2106 NW 13th Street, Davis reportedly left the car and started walking northbound on the western sidewalk of NW 13th Street. An officer got out of his car and ordered Davis to stop and get on the ground, but David allegedly ignored him. A TASER was deployed and had no effect, but officers were eventually able to take him to the ground, where he was taken into custody.

Davis has been charged with aggravated assault, burglary of an occupied dwelling, resisting arrest, and fleeing. He was charged in two local cases in 2019; one was an arrest for battery and indecent exposure, and the other was a sworn complaint for disorderly conduct and indecent exposure. All charges were dropped in both cases.

Davis has one felony conviction and is currently on probation for aggravated assault. Judge Susan Miller-Jones set bail at $152,000.

Articles about arrests are based on reports from law enforcement agencies. The charges listed are taken from the arrest report and/or court records and are only accusations. All suspects are innocent until proven guilty in a court of law. 

  • I don’t understand why most people in Gainesville and Alaucha County don’t have guns to protect themselves from crime. Florida has castle doctrine that allows you to use up to deadly force to protect your home also has a fantastic SYG law to use outside of your home

  • Was the car’s registration in his name, insured and tag up to date, too? Let me guess…. 🤡🤬👹

  • He needs to be locked up for a year then put on work release to see if he can behave…

  • Did I read this correctly? “Officers responded to a call at approximately 1:00 P.M.” “Davis was later seen driving eastbound on NW 39th Avenue at about 5:10 p.m., and two patrol officers turned on their lights and sirens…At about 6:15 p.m., Davis reportedly swerved into a lane…”

    The officers followed for over an hour? Justice needs to be a little more swift than that.

    As another penned, Florida has great laws regarding protecting yourself. Best do just that, it took officers an entire afternoon to catch this clown. You know what they say about witnesses…

    • You are absolutely correct. And it didn’t start at 1pm it started the Wednesday prior. This man lives within feet of me and we called the cops on him 5 days before this for threatening to kill us. They said there was nothing they could do. We were able to get him baker acted by Friday because he chased our maintenance man through the neighborhood. 5 hours later he was back out terrorizing our lives. It took him terrorizing the entire city for them to arrest him and in the end it wasn’t even gpd who trapped him it was citizens who boxed him in.

      He is still getting bail even though he is on probation (probation = no bail) because his probation officer hasn’t filed the paperwork so he might be out on the loose again soon.

    • I can’t speak for the timeliness on the officers response but I do know GPD does not allow their officers to chase vehicles without permission. Thank your city commissioners for that and many other rules that prevent our officers from doing their job effectively.

      • I am aware of the rules GPD has in place. My point is that we warned them of this guy 5 days prior when he was making death threats to everyone on the property. They didn’t take us seriously. They have just now added the death threats to the list of charges when he could have been charged Wednesday when we first called. Avoiding all the chaos and danger he caused to this city.

        I am also aware that the current climate limits what GPD can do and ill make sure to thank my commissioners (that I did not vote for) for that. Thanks for your input.

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