A 5-year veteran of the Orange County Sheriff’s Office has been let go without pay, accused of fleeing and eluding law enforcement officers.
27-year-old former Deputy Sheriff Aaron Larkin, was arrested on Sunday night, after he refused to stop when deputies initiated a traffic stop at the intersection of Good Home Road and State Road 50. Larkin, who was off duty, was driving with expired tags his girlfriend’s vehicle and wasn’t wearing a seatbelt.
According to Larkin’s arrest report:
“I observed the driver, a light-skinned black male with a close-cropped hair cut not wearing his seatbelt as required by law. I ran the vehicle’s tag that was affixed to the rear through FCIC/NCIC and observed that the vehicle was un-registered and that the tag had expired on January 28, 2013. I immediately notified dispatch and initiated a traffic stop on the mentioned vehicle by activating my emergency lights and siren. The vehicle immediately made a u-turn back on to southbound Good Homes Road and pulled in to a church parking lot located just a few hundred yards from the intersection. I observed the vehicle enter the church parking lot and slow down as if to comply with the traffic stop. The vehicle never came to a complete stop and instead accelerated at a high rate of speed through the parking lot and out the southern entrance back on to southbound Good Homes Road at a very high rate of speed. I immediately turned off my emergency lights and siren and notified dispatch that the driver failed to yield and that I had disengaged.”
Larkin was subsequently tracked down to an apartment nearby where he lived. He initially “provided false information about his involvement with the vehicle in question,” according to his arrest report. When asked to write a written statement, he “changed his story.” He was placed under arrest and charged with one count of fleeing and eluding a law enforcement officer.
Larkin has been relieved of duty without pay and stripped of his law enforcement authority, a statement from the Sheriff’s Office said Monday. This status will remain in effect as the court proceedings move forward, the statement also said.
The Orange County Professional Standards will conduct an internal investigation into the incident.
