Nassau, BAHAMAS- A man who rammed through a coronavirus curfew checkpoint escaped jail time with a plea deal.
Antonio Mario Taylor, 27, refused to stop at the checkpoint at the Pinewood Gardens roundabout around 8:45pm on April 21.
Instead, he hit a barricade with his Nissan March, causing $700 in damage.
Taylor sped around the roundabout, forcing two Royal Bahamas Defence Force marines to jump out of his path.
A policeman fired into Taylor’s car, as the vehicle sped towards him. Taylor eventually crashed into the back of a parked police car.
Taylor threw a plastic bag containing an ounce of marijuana from the car. The officers also found a partially smoked joint in his car.
Additionally, the officers found three forged credit cards and a skimming device in the vehicle.
Police charged Taylor with breaking the curfew, causing damage, assault with a dangerous instrument, drug possession and possession of false documents.
He admitted the charges at his arraignment before Magistrate Kara Turnquest-Deveaux on April 30.
Thanks to a plea agreement negotiated by his lawyer Jomo Campbell, the magistrate fined Taylor $4,500 for all of his cases.
He paid a $1,500 deposit immediately.
Taylor has agreed to make monthly payments of $500. Otherwise, he’ll spend nine months in prison.
Police in New Providence have charged more almost 600 people with defying curfews aimed at slowing the spread of the coronavirus.
Curfew violators could face fines up to $10,000 and prison sentences up to 18 months.
