Florida Driver Jumps from Moving Car with Wife, Kids Inside: Cops

Florida police claim that a father made. a series of terrible decisions that. culminated in him jumping from the. driver's seat of his moving car with his. wife and children still inside. This. harrowing ordeal left him bloody and. bruised, his family terrified, and law. enforcement shaking their heads. We're. going to sit down with a former Florida. state attorney to talk about this. bizarre alleged crime and the [music]. potential consequences. Welcome to. Sidebar, presented by Law and Crime. I'm. Jesse [music] Weber.

Now, before we jump into this more, while I have you real quick, I got to. tell you about Upside. If you don't know. what it is, it is our sponsor. It is. great. It is this app that gets you cash. back on daily essentials like gas and. groceries. And it is so easy to use. It's free. So, I can use it when I pump. my gas. I can use it when I go to a. convenience store. I can use it when I. get a bite to eat. And yes, this is real. cash back. After you spend, money. appears in your Upsite account that you. can transfer straight into your bank. account. So, here's what you do. You. download the Upside app for free. You. buy whatever you plan to purchase. You. pay as usual with a debit or credit. card. You file a claim in the app and.

just like that, money back. So to find. out how much you could save with Upside, click the link in the description or. scan the QR code on screen and use our. promo code sidebar to get an extra 25. cents back on every gallon on your first. tank of gas. This all started with a 911. phone call from a child. Okay. Albert. Cersi and his family were driving along. Highway 79 in Florida's panhandle. earlier this week when the dad of three. and his wife started fighting with each. other. Okay. When the arguing and the.

yelling escalated to something physical, one of the three minor children in the. back seat called 911. This is all. according to the Washington County. Sheriff's Office. Now, deputies claimed. that when Cersei realized that this girl. had reached out to police, he hit her, struck her, took the phone away. Now, law enforcement was already in route to. find them. And it seems Cersei would do. just about anything to avoid them, including throwing himself out of the. car. That's the allegation. To talk.

about this, to talk about what we could. expect in this case, we'll talk about. the charges, everything else, what could. have resulted. I want to bring a friend. to the show, uh, former Palm Beach. County State Attorney Dave Aaronburgg, who I understand, Dave, you have a new. Substack, right? >> Hey, great to be with you, Jesse. Yes, I. do. I'm finally doing the Substack. thing. Dave Aaronburgg, aka the Florida. law man. Of course, there's always a. Florida connection to everything. So, uh, yes, I have my Substack. I post. every day and I even have my true crime. Tuesdays or true crime Thursday. I'll.

have to figure out, uh, which of those t. days to do it on. So, thank you for. plugging it, Jesse. >> Can't you just do both days? Aren't you. in charge of that? Can't you just do. both? >> I guess I could. >> Yeah, but you know, >> who's telling you to do Tuesdays or. Thursday? You just do both days. >> You know, there just not enough true. crime stories coming from Florida. Uh, so I. >> Right. Yeah. Yeah. I guess. Yeah. Okay. Well, let's talk about this. So, Dave, um, in all seriousness, right, domestic. violence very, very scary. Okay. That in.

and of itself is very scary. But having. an apparent domestic violence incident. while trapped in a moving vehicle, that. is one that is particularly dangerous. Have you seen a lot of cases like that. before where you have alleged violence. within a vehicle while someone's on the. road? I have never seen someone throw himself. out of a car to evade police. I have. seen people get in domestic violence in.

their cars, but. this is the first time I've ever seen a. driver of a vehicle throw himself out on. the highway. Now, have I seen people try. to escape by getting out of the car, trying to fall out of the car uh on the. passenger side? Yes, but this is a. first. But of course, we're talking. about Florida and we're always used to. firsts here. But this guy is in for a. whole lot of hurt because not only can. you see the scars on his face from. dropping out of a car at high speed on a. highway, but he's also going to face.

some serious felonies. Yeah, this mug. shot is brutal. It is brutal. And I. think the big thing as we go through. this is he's lucky to be alive and. everyone else in that car is lucky to be. alive. So, how did it happen? So, when. deputies found the car, they turned on. their lights and their sirens to try to. get Cersei to pull over, right? But. apparently Cersi wasn't having it. He. allegedly kept on driving and then. suddenly the driver's side door opens. and Cersi jumps out. The car is still.

moving. So deputies, they stopped to. help Cersei take him into custody, but. it's up to the wife to climb over the. console into the driver's seat and she. stops the car. Hero. It's a miracle. When the deputies caught up to her, they. saw that she had injuries to her face, which was consistent with being in some. sort of altercation with her husband. But Dave, the fact that she's okay, the. kids are okay. You know, first of all, I'll get to the charges in a second, but. that's a miracle in and of itself, and.

it made me wonder the the you know, the. first thing, could he have been charged. with attempted murder here? >> You know, it depends on the facts. He. wasn't. And so, they're thinking that he. didn't try to kill anyone. He was just. trying to evade. In fact, that's what. he's been charged with, fleeing or. attempting to elude a law enforcement. officer. And it wasn't for driving. It. was for jumping out of the car at a high. speed. But as far as attempted murder, I. I would think you'd need more. >> Yeah, I think you need more than that. You'd have to show that he intentionally. tried to steer the car the side of the.

road. I mean, he jumped out to save. himself. Thankfully, uh his wife was. able to get them to safety. I can tell. you though, if the if, god forbid, someone had died in there, yes, he would. have been charged with something more, a. manslaughter, perhaps a murder. So, he's. lucky that no one died. >> What was the thought process? Where did. he think he was going to go? Expect the. deputies to just keep following the car. that didn't see him jump out? That is. the thought process of someone I don't.

know if we can really make sense of, but. what do you think the thought process. was? You're trying to get me in the mind of. someone who will throw himself out of a. car who uh on the high-speed uh freeway. You know, he's lucky that the cops did. see him because if they didn't see him, they could have driven over him. Yeah. >> And I've I've seen that happen where. people fall off a motorcycle, for. example, and then cars just one after. the next just roll over that person. And. that's such a tragedy. Now, the thing is.

in this part of Florida, it's rural and. so you don't have tons of traffic like. you do in the urban areas of Florida. like Miami, Fort Lauderdale, West Palm. Beach, and then he would have been. toast. But because it's a rural highway, I guess he's thinking that he could just. somehow survive it, barrel roll, and. then run away and not get hit by other. cars. He's lucky he didn't. >> Yeah, I do wonder if his defense will be. I I just fell out of the car. I don't. know if that's something he's going to. go with, but let's talk about this a. little bit more. So, paramedics, they. checked the family out on scene. There. are no serious injuries that were.

reported, thankfully. And according to. the sheriff's office, Cersei's wife told. investigators that she had asked her. husband repeatedly to pull over and let. her and the children out of the car. He. allegedly refused. Now, Cersi's wife. told deputies that this family of five. had recently moved from Louisiana to. Florida. They were heading back to. Louisiana when things went haywire. And. by the way, we checked out Cersei's. criminal record in Louisiana. Found. something pretty interesting. He was in. court in Richland Parish on domestic. violence charges. Yeah. According to.

parish court records, Cersi was arrested. for domestic abuse battery on March 15th. of this year. Charges were officially. filed a month later. He entered a plea. of not guilty. And it appears that that. case is still ongoing. But that is not. his only domestic violence case in. Richland Parish. In 2021, Cersi was. charged with domestic abuse battery, child endangerment. He ended up entering. a guilty plea in 2022 to an amended. charge of domestic abuse battery first. defense. He was given a suspended jail.

sentence of 6 months. Had to spend 2. years on probation. And the rules of his. probation included paying fines in court. costs, enrolling in and completing the. batter's intervention program, undergoing a mental health evaluation, following the treatment plan that the. counselor gave him. He also wasn't. allowed to possess a firearm. Dave, really disturbing history. But would. that that Louisiana guilty plea have any. bearing on his current Florida case? >> Yes. Florida law generally allows. prosecutors to use outofstate.

convictions to upgrade charges when it. comes to domestic violence as long as. the law in the other state here, Louisiana, is substantially similar to. Florida's law. So, it depends on the. specific law that he pled guilty to and. how similar that is to our domestic. violence law. But I would think that. we're going to use that in Florida as an. aggravator cuz otherwise first time. domestic violence can be a misdemeanor. here. He's being charged with the.

domestic battery as a misdemeanor, but. they could change that now that they're. getting access to his records in. Louisiana. >> By the way, how was he out? Right. if he. had that completed case in Louisiana and. then a pending case in Louisiana that. came after. I don't know the full. details of either one of those cases or. what the rule is in Louisiana or what. the the pre-trial release rules are in. Louisiana, but does it seem strange to. you that if he had this conviction and.

then he has this other domestic violence. charge um earlier this year, how is it. that he was out? How was it that he was. allowed to be with his family and. traveling to Florida and coming back? >> There's always the assumption of of. release. Like that is the uh the. default. You you're you're going to get. released pending trial. Unless you're a. threat to the community, you're a threat. to witnesses or you have a likelihood of. fleeing or if there's a murder charge, for example, that pretty much will. ensure that you're staying behind bars.

pending trial. But here, domestic. violence, you'll get out. The exception. of that is that if you are released on. bail bond and you commit another crime, then you're going right back in. But. here, he plead guilty, served his time, and then he has another pending case, but he got bail for that. And then the. new case is in Florida. So, it is. possible that the judge there could be a. motion to revoke his bail because he was.

out on bail on the previous matter while. he got picked up again for a similar. crime in Florida. If that's the fact. pattern, then then he could be. ultimately sent back to jail. M uh let's. talk about what he's currently facing in. Florida because according to a news. release from the Washington County uh. Sheriff's Office, Cersei was transported. to jail on seven charges. Tampering with. or harassing a witness, domestic. violence battery, fleeing or attempting. to elude a law enforcement officer,

resisting arrest without violence, child. abuse, false imprisonment, and driving. while license suspended or revoked. The. last one is obviously the least serious. considering whatever everything else. he's facing. But I mean, I look at those. charges, Dave, it pretty much aligns. with the fact pattern or the alleged. fact pattern that I laid out. What. charges stand out to you the most? >> Well, the domestic battery to me, because of the conversation we've had. right now, it's just a misdemeanor. punishable by up to one year in jail. But if he's had other domestic violence.

cases that where he's plead guilty or. found guilty, then that could be. upgraded to a felony. I think the. Florida officials are still going to get. all the information from Louisiana to. find out all about this guy. The other. one um is, you know, the the false. imprisonment is interesting because that. shows that the kids what they wanted to. him to stop and he kept driving. It. wasn't like they wanted to get out of. the moving car. They wanted him to stop.

So, I can see how a defense lawyer may. say, "What do you want him to do? He's. still driving. They're on a car trip. He's still moving in the direction that. they are intending. They just got in a. fight and they're screaming and yelling. So perhaps that is a vulnerability for. the prosecution. Maybe that's a crime. where the defense could say, "Your. honor, that's that's not the right. charge here.". >> In your experience, do prosecutors throw. everything they possibly can throw and. then worry about, you know, later on. which are the charges they're actually. going to move forward with at trial.

>> Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. You know, like. tampering with witness here. the the. tampering is when he found out that his. child called 911 and then slapped the. child in the face, right? Uh so there's. a bunch of things here that are that are. clearly just child abuse. I mean, just. the the act of slapping the child in the. face, fleeing and eluding is Yeah, cuz. he threw himself out of the car. Um so. they're going to load him up. And just. because though that these are thirdderee. felonies, punishable by up to 5 years in. prison doesn't mean he's going to get.

it. They're going to look at his wrap. sheet and other factors to decide what. he scores, but he is set for prison. time. This guy, I think, is going to the. Department of Corrections upstate. It. looks like he needs to because he's a. repeat offender. >> Well, does this go to trial or do you. think that they will try to work out. some kind of plea? Because one of the. things that I was thinking about is do. you want to take this to trial? I would. imagine the children would have to be. witnesses, right? Well, you have the 911 call and you have.

the wife who's an adult in the car. So, the children may not have to testify. The prosecutors may not need the. children. And so, maybe they won't have. to be traumatized. Again, if you're. prosecutors, you always try to see if. there's a deal. I mean, it's just part. of the business. They there's an adage. that says in the halls of justice, a lot. of justice is done in the halls. And so, that's what could happen here. There. could be a plea deal. If you're the. defense lawyer, I think you'd want it. because when you get pre-trial publicity.

like this, especially in a rural. community where everyone knows everyone, it's not good for the defendant. So, this is something where both sides may. have an interest in settling. >> What do you think he's looking at in. terms of prison time? Whether he takes. some sort of plea, what would be offered. to him? Or if he takes this to trial, let's presume on all of those charges, what do you think he would get? Well, the maximum right now based on the. charges is 22 years and 60 days. He. would never get that. And I don't know.

what he scores. I have to look at the. score sheet and his priors and all the. aggravating factors to make an. estimation. But if I were to guess, I. would say that if he goes to trial and. found guilty, the judge, I think, would. give him um I think up to five years. I. don't think he's getting more than that. And if he pleads guilty in advance, I. think that he would probably get two. years in prison. He he'd have to go. upstate to prison. But even though he. scores way more than that, excuse me,

even though the maximum is way more than. that, that's just a maximum. And very. few people would get that. >> Is there an a defense of we talk about. in the law if you have an extreme. emotional disturbance, if you're in the. heat of passion, we talk about heat and. passion, right? In homicide cases, you. know, the classic example is you walk. in, see your spouse cheating, you take a. gun out immediately, and shoot both of. them. But in this kind of fact pattern, as we're trying to understand, if the. allegations are true, why you would. continue to move fast in the car, not.

let anyone out, jump out of the car, is. there any room for a defense attorney in. Florida to argue some sort of mental. health defense? I'm not saying that's. what they'll do, but an emotional. disturbance of some kind. there was a. fight going on, heat of passion, anything like that. Is that possible? >> Well, he'll argue that his lawyer will. argue that to try to mitigate the. penalty. Uh but as far as the statues, the elements, it doesn't matter if you've had mental. distress, it's still not a defense to.

domestic battery or child abuse or. fleeing and eluding, but it can help. when it comes to the penalty phase. I. think the thing that's going to trouble. the judge the most and the community is. the jumping out of the car, leaving your. family there to possibly die. And I. think that's where a case that that. factor that factor alone I think ensures. that he's going upstate to prison. >> Just really think about the family here. I mean, my gosh, it thankfully they're. okay. This could have been a much. different story. And as they trying to.

navigate what happened, they also have. to navigate what life is going to be. like as a completely changed family and. what almost happened. and it's just. really really hard to be thinking about. But Dave Aaronburgg, thank you for. breaking it down for us and I hope. everybody can check out your Substack on. either Tuesdays or Thursdays or maybe. Tuesdays and Thursdays and in an ideal. world, but appreciate it. >> Yeah. Well, hey, I uh put out videos. every day, so check it out any day that. ends with a Y. >> There you go. There you go, Dave. Appreciate it. >> Thank you, Jesse.

>> And that's all we have for you right now. here on Sidebar, everybody. Thank you so. much for joining us. And as always, please subscribe on YouTube, Apple. Podcast, Spotify, wherever you get your. podcasts. [music] You can follow me on X. or Instagram. I'm Jesse Weber. I'll. speak to you next time.