A Miami Beach woman is accused of speeding though the Florida Keys and flipping her middle fingers at a pursuing Monroe County Sheriff’s Office deputy along the way.
Christine Eliza Dayoub, 36, faces multiple felony charges in the incident in which deputies say she reached speeds of up to 120 mph as she crossed the iconic Seven Mile Bridge Thursday night in a Mercedes-Benz.
It began around 7:40 p.m. when she passed a deputy in his patrol car heading south on U.S. 1 in the Middle Keys city of Marathon, according to the sheriff’s office. She swerved around him so abruptly that he had to slam on his brakes, police say.
The deputy turned on his lights and siren to try to get Dayoub to pull over. Instead, she accelerated, sticking her middle finger out the window. She passed other cars in the shoulder and even drove into oncoming traffic in the northbound lane to get away from the deputy, according to the sheriff’s office.
The deputy’s radar clocked her car at speeds up to 90 mph. The speed limit on U.S. 1 through Marathon ranges from 35 to 45 mph.
When Dayoub reached the Seven Mile Bridge, she stuck both middle fingers out of her sunroof as she sped across the span.
The deputy kept driving south, but he stopped pursuing her because the sheriff’s office has a no-chase policy for safety reasons. While staying behind Dayoub, the deputy watched her tailgate a Tesla and then bump into the back of the car, according to the sheriff’s office.
The Tesla began to fishtail, but the driver was able to regain control of the vehicle.
Deputies on the other side of the bridge set up strips of spikes to flatten the Mercedes’ tires at mile marker 35, but Dayoub pulled over a mile back.
The deputy who was following her approached the Mercedes with his pistol drawn demanding Dayoub get out of the car.
Monroe sheriff’s office spokesman Adam Linhardt said Dayoub laughed as she got out of the car and told the deputy to take her to jail, “adding she had no reason for driving the way she was driving.”
Dayoub also faces a charge of possession of synthetic marijuana because deputies say they found two marijuana vaping pens in the car.
As of Friday afternoon, she was in county jail with no bond information immediately available.
