Wrong-way driver carjacks FedEx truck, enters St. Johns River, Jacksonville police say

JACKSONVILLE, Fla — UPDATE, 8/24/2022: Action News Jax has obtained the arrest report for the driver who went the wrong way down I-95 on Friday night, then carjacked a FedEx truck and crashed it.

Cheryle Cooke, 25, was arrested Friday, August 19 on charges of aggravated battery and carjacking, according to an arrest report from the Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office.

In the report, witnesses told police that Cooke could be heard yelling, “Help me, I have been abducted,” before she jumped in the St. Johns River.

The report noted that Cooke “was previously placed under the provisions of the Baker Act due to suicidal ideations” on Thursday, August 18.

The Florida Baker Act law allows doctors, mental health professionals, judges, and law enforcement to commit a person to a mental health treatment center for up to 72 hours if they display certain violent or suicidal signs of mental illness.

As of Wednesday, August 24, Cooke was still being held in the Duval County Jail.

Original story from 8/20/2022 below:

The Florida Highway Patrol stated that on Friday night, just before 7 p.m. a wrong way driver, in a white Range Rover, entered Interstate 95 northbound going in a southbound direction.

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As the vehicle was near Emerson Street, the vehicle struck a white Jeep Cherokee, traveling northbound, and caused that vehicle to spin out and become disabled.

Reports say that debris from the collision entered the southbound side of Interstate 95 and struck a grey Mercedes-Benz traveling in the left lane. The driver of the Range Rover exited the vehicle and entered a FedEx truck that stopped because of the previous collision.

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The driver of the Range Rover removed the driver of the FedEx vehicle and began traveling northbound on Interstate 95. Upon entering downtown Jacksonville, the FedEx truck struck a building and the driver entered the St Johns River near the Hyatt Regency.

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Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office was successful in retrieving the suspect from the river and she was taken in to custody.

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