SANTA ROSA COUNTY, Fla. -- A Milton dad accused of holding an Uber driver at gunpoint in 2024 was found not guilty Tuesday afternoon.
"It's a blessing, the prayers are answered in common sense," said Hollonbeck. "I can't even believe my family had to go through this. I think from the testimony that came out, I hope that the Sheriff's Office reviews what happened and press charges on the right people.
" Hollonbeck -- an Army veteran -- reportedly pulled a gun on an Uber driver after finding his 13-year-old daughter, who he presumed was missing, in the vehicle being dropped off at home. Hollonbeck took the witness stand Tuesday afternoon and gave a teary retelling of the events from his point of view. During testimony, Hollonbeck said his daughter and two of her friends were believed to be in his home. When Hollonbeck asked his daughter's friends where she was, they said they did not know anything other than "she got into a car." At that point, Hollonbeck said he, "immediately flipped into mission mode," going back to his 31 years of active-duty service. Hollonbeck called his neighbor, asking where his daughter was. On a Snapchat maps, his neighbor sent a screenshot of his daughter's location in Pensacola. At the time, she was in 7th grade. He then got into his car and drove towards the location while staying on the phone with 911. He asked a deputy to be sent to that location. However, no deputy was sent. At that point, Hollonbeck said he thought, "I cannot believe I am not getting police assistance. I don't know if my child is dead, raped, trafficked." His neighbor sent a new picture to Hollonbeck, showing his daughter's location was headed back towards his home. He turned around to meet what he believed to be a threat. He testified, "There is a potential threat coming to my home and law enforcement is not coming. This is go time."When arriving back at his home, his neighbor then said his daughter was back at his home as well. Hollonbeck noticed headlights at his driveway, but no insignia to identify the unknown vehicle as a Lyft or Uber. He said all he thought was, "This vehicle is coming from 'drugville.' What if they drive by and roll my daughter out?" When the car stopped, Hollonbeck said he grabbed his cattle rifle before stepping out of his truck and approached the vehicle. He shouted to whoever the driver was to, "get out and get on the ground." The driver, a man identified as Shane Smith, got out of the car shouting, "I'm an Uber driver! I'm an Uber driver!" While laying down on the ground. Smith took to the stand saying he felt terrified as he begged for his life. Hollonbeck told his daughter to go inside and admitted to keeping his gun "trained'" on the driver while he took a picture of the driver's license plate. "I submit to you that a reasonable person is not going to run up on a vehicle, not knowing who is in the vehicle, not knowing where the vehicle is coming from, having no facts about the occupants of that vehicle with a loaded firearm," said Assistant State Attorney Hayden Hudson. "This is not Fallujah, Iraq.""He should have never been arrested," Defense Attorney Keith Kilpatrick said. "This was a father that protected his daughter and they stopped at my client doing the right thing. And picked him out and he should have never been arrested." Hollonbeck said it all happened so fast, and he was acting to protect his daughter who he thought was dead or harmed moments leading up to the interaction. "I'm thinking I'm never going to see her again," he testified. "I'd rather be shot at in combat again." While Hollonbeck’s daughter made her way inside, he said he still had his weapon because he did not know who the man was or how a Lyft had been ordered because she was a teenager. He also said he was acting to protect not only his daughter, but her friends inside as well because there was a strange man at his home. Smith showed Hollonbeck his driver's license and a route of the trip that was booked for her daughter. Another man named "Sean Torres" -- unknown to Hollonbeck -- had booked the $30 Lyft ride from Milton to an address in Pensacola. "With this verdict today, it shows the parents of Santa Rosa County that it's not illegal to protect your children and that's what's important," Defense Attorney Justin Sutherland said. Hollonbeck says the acquittal is not the end. He wants an apology from law enforcement for pressing the charges. "One is I spent my career in the military and we have a saying called, 'don't rush to failure,'" Hollonbeck said. "And if they just would have slowed it down and actually looked at the information instead of flying the plane right into the tunnel vision in the mountain, they destroyed my life, lost my job. My family went through hell. It's absurd if they just would have done their job." Judge Clifton Drake presided over the case. At one point in the trial, he ordered jurors out of the courtroom and had a conversation with attorneys about citizen's arrests. The defense claimed Hollonbeck was making a citizen's arrest when he ordered the driver to the ground. The judge rejected that saying, '“If law enforcement behaved the way that Mr. Hollonbeck behaved, there would be an uprising. To point a gun at someone, order them around without any information, I don’t believe law enforcement can behave like that.”A standoff continues on Tuscaloosa Street in Midtown Mobile. Police are asking the public to avoid the area of Spring Hill and Tuscaloosa while police respondPENSACOLA, Fla. -- Florida Congressman Jimmy Patronis expressed his support for the president's recent actions concerning Venezuela.He says he didn't hear abouJust two days into the new year, and Mobile already has its first homicide.It happened around two this afternoon, at a small neighborhood store in the Trinity GA new law going into effect on New Year’s Day will restrict people convicted of extreme DUI offenses from buying alcohol.SANTA ROSA COUNTY, Fla. -- A Milton dad accused of holding an Uber driver at gunpoint in 2024 was found not guilty Tuesday afternoon.
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