A courageous citizen in Florida saw a registered sex offender driving with two missing boys in his car, and not only contacted 911, but also personally followed the car to make sure the criminal could not get away.
While the arrest happened last month, authorities did not release the extraordinary 911 call until now. Thankfully, 60-year-old Darnell Hairston is now in custody, and his youthful abuse victim is safe, thanks to a very determined local citizen who took responsibility for tailing the criminal.
💥#BREAKING: A vigilant citizen in Flagler County, FL, spotted registered sex offender Darnell Hairston driving with two boys, including a missing 11-year-old
— Brandon Tatum (@TheOfficerTatum) January 15, 2026
He called 911 and followed the truck, refusing to stop even when dispatch said it wasn't necessary.
911:“You don’t… pic.twitter.com/0nwDvBt2yC
“There’s a child pedophile with two kids in his truck,” the caller urgently said in the released audio. “He’s our neighborhood child pedophile, and there’s two missing kids that’s run away from out there.” News4 JAX cited information from the Flagler County Sheriff’s Office to say that the 15-year-old boy appears to have been an accomplice with the middle-aged criminal and helped take captive the 11-year-old boy. The teenager tried to escape police after they arrested Hairston.
On the call, the 911 operator informed the concerned citizen that he did not have to continue following Hairston. The citizen rejected that argument. “I’m following until I see a cop pull his a** over, because he’s got two kids in his car. If a cop don’t pull him over, I’m going to pull him over and it ain’t going to be f***ing pretty,” the caller expressed his understandable indignation.
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From News4 JAX:
Deputies said the 11-year-old was in a Snapchat group chat with the teen. The boy said in the chat that he thought Hairston sexually assaulted his friend, which deputies say led the teen to help lure the boy to Hairston.
The boy said Hairston choked him until he passed out, then tied him up with duct tape over his mouth.
According to deputies, evidence aligns with this heartbreaking account.
Fortunately, deputies did manage to catch up with and stop Hairston, thanks to the 911 call. But while deputies arrested Hairston, the pedophile's deranged teenage accomplice jumped into the driver's seat of Hairston's truck and drove crazily, based on dashcam video.
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The police car chase ended when the teen runaway rammed into a patrol car and crashed the truck. Like Hairston, the teen ended up in handcuffs.
As of now, the teenager is in a juvenile detention center, and Hairston is in prison. Authorities brought multiple assault and kidnapping charges against Hairston, so hopefully, he will be in prison for many years to come.
God bless the courageous citizen who took responsibility on himself not only to identify the pedophile and the victim but to track Hairston and hold himself in readiness to do a sort of citizen's arrest on Hairston if necessary.
It is rather ironic, however — and disturbing — to think of how many leftist rioters across the country are wreaking havoc in order to protect illegal alien rapists and pedophiles. If only they had the integrity of the Florida 911 caller.
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