SEFFNER, Fla. — A man was arrested at his Seffner home after a follow-up to a hit-and-run crash ended in a rifle being pointed directly at a Florida Highway Patrol trooper, an arrest affidavit explains.
At around 4:58 a.m. on Wednesday, a trooper arrived at a home in Seffner to find 67-year-old Gregory Giles who was allegedly involved in a crash on U.S. Highway 301 and Harney Road.
According to the agency, Giles drove away from the scene of the crash before law enforcement arrived. The trooper was supposed to give a driver exchange form and a citation to the 67-year-old along with viewing the damage on his car.
But when the trooper got to the home and knocked, Giles peeked his head over the door, asked who he was and why he was there.
After the trooper gave him all the information he was asking for, Giles reportedly opened the door with an AR15 pointed directly at him.
"I order [Giles] to put the weapon down to which he hesitantly complied," the trooper explains in the affidavit. "I then placed [him] under arrest and requested additional officers to the scene."
After the weapon was secured, Giles was placed in the back of the patrol car.
The trooper says the man smelled like alcohol and showed signs of intoxication with bloodshot watery eyes and slurred speech.
The family inside the Seffner home reportedly told the trooper that Giles "had violent tendencies" and was an alcoholic. The affidavit explains they also expressed he shouldn't be able to own any guns with them "feeling uncomfortable with his habits."
Giles is now facing charges of aggravated assault on a law enforcement officer with a deadly weapon, improper exhibition of a dangerous weapon or firearm and use of a firearm while intoxicated.
