Beverly Hills youth arrested, charged with throwing fireworks at State Trooper car in Hernando, FL

Florida Highway Patrol (FHP) Troop C

Citrus County, Florida - Twenty-year-old Ramses Jimenez, of Beverly Hills, Florida was arrested by the Florida Highway Patrol at 9:57 am on New Year's Day, January 1, 2025, accused of throwing fireworks at a Florida Highway Patrol car in Hernando, Florida. Jimenez was charged with aggravated assault of a law enforcement officer (no bond) and throwing a destructive device ($5,000 bond). He was booked into the Citrus County Detention Facility in Lecanto, Florida at 11:13 am.

According to the arrest report, the FHP trooper was inside his patrol car that was parked, facing north, on the west side of North Carl G. Rose Highway (State Road 200) at the intersections of East Wagon Trail. The trooper reported, that around 9:51 am, he heard a series of short, loud pops coming from the west, and about 30 seconds later, observed a white 2018 Dodge SUV make a turn from East Wagon Trail onto North Carl G. Rose Highway, heading south, toward the trooper's patrol vehicle. The trooper also reported, that as the Dodge SUV passed his patrol vehicle - clearly marked on both sides with "STATE TROOPER" - he heard several loud pops and noticed clouds of smoke and grass being flung up from the ground - next to, on top of, and in front of the patrol car. It initially appeared to the trooper as if gunshots were striking the ground around his patrol car. The trooper conducted a U-turn with the patrol car and scanned the immediate area to determine there was no other threat, then overtook the Dodge SUV and conducted a traffic stop on the vehicle. Jimenez was seated in the rear passenger side of the Dodge SUV, with the rear passenger-side window rolled down. When the deputy asked the three occupants of the vehicle, "Who was throwing the fireworks?, Jimenez stated that he had thrown the fireworks.

Jimenez was placed into handcuffs. He told the trooper that he was sorry that he'd thrown the fireworks from his window at the trooper's patrol vehicle, that he'd already lit the fireworks and didn’t know what to do with them, and that he'd, just previously, lit and thrown fireworks in a safe manner in the neighborhood to the west of their location.

The trooper explained to Jimenez, that throwing fireworks toward a patrol car from a moving vehicle was a felony. Jimenez replied to the trooper that he was not aware that it was a felony.

The driver and front seat passenger told the trooper that Jimenez had thrown the fireworks, and they'd cautioned him to not throw the fireworks, due to the State Trooper being there.

The SUV was searched in the area where Jimenez has been seated inside the vehicle, and in plain view of his seat, the trooper found a bag that contained two packages of 1.5-inch 40/16 “Black Cat” fireworks, marked with “WARNING – EXPLOSIVE.” One package was unopened, and one package had 5 clusters of fireworks missing.