A routine traffic stop in Marion County, Florida, escalated into a deadly confrontation after a woman allegedly gave police a false identity, slipped out of her handcuffs, concealed a firearm in an area deputies had not discovered during multiple searches, and later opened fire from the back seat of a patrol vehicle.

The June 23, 2025, encounter began when a Marion County sheriff’s deputy noticed a Ford Mustang driving improperly through an intersection in Ocala. According to the footage, the car moved through the center of the intersection and nearly struck the deputy’s vehicle. Moments later, the driver again failed to stop properly at a stop sign, halting only after much of the Mustang had already crossed the stop bar.

What initially appeared to be a traffic violation would ultimately lead to an exchange of gunfire, injuries to both the deputy and the suspect, and a 40-year prison sentence.

A Suspicious Traffic Stop

The deputy followed the Mustang until it pulled in front of a residence.

Rather than immediately stopping when the deputy activated his lights, the driver continued to the home and began honking the horn, apparently trying to get people inside to come outside.

When asked why she had not stopped sooner, the driver said she had already been heading to the house.

The deputy requested her driver’s license.

She handed him an identification card and initially gave the name “Briana.”

But something did not look right.

As the conversation continued, the deputy noticed that the woman standing in front of him did not closely resemble the person shown on the license.

“You don’t really look like the person on the driver’s license,” he told her.

He also pointed out that even her eye color appeared different from the person in the photograph. She claimed that makeup explained the difference.

The deputy was not convinced.

He detained her and explained that the original traffic stop was based on her improper stop and the way she had crossed into his lane at the earlier intersection.

Then he began trying to determine who she actually was.

The Deputy Already Knew the Name Was False

After placing the woman in handcuffs and seating her in the patrol car, the deputy read her Miranda rights.

Then he revealed why the false identification had failed.

He had recently stopped the actual person whose identity she was using.

“I pulled over Brandon like four days ago,” the deputy explained, according to the transcript.

He gave the woman a choice: provide her real name or be taken to jail until authorities could establish her identity.

She eventually identified herself as Rhea Miller.

When asked why she had used someone else’s name, she denied having warrants but acknowledged that her driver’s license was suspended.

The deputy quickly connected the two facts.

“So, you gave me a fake name because you are suspended,” he said.

The woman then tried to explain her situation.

She told police that she had recently been released from prison, had been working three jobs and believed she was doing much better with her life. She said she was trying to remain “on the right path.”

But the encounter was about to become much more serious.

Officers Begin Finding Drugs

Deputies asked whether she had drugs on her person.

She initially said no.

A more thorough search followed, with officers checking her pockets and belongings. The transcript indicates that investigators were already concerned about the quantity of suspected contraband they were finding.

At one point, an officer remarks, “Bro, that’s a lot.”

They also noted a backpack behind the driver’s seat.

While sitting in the patrol car, however, the woman allegedly made another move that alarmed officers.

According to the narration, she slipped out of her handcuffs and began moving around as if attempting to escape.

She later appeared to place something in the back seat.

When the deputy opened the door, he realized she had gotten out of the cuffs.

That behavior made him increasingly suspicious that she was hiding something.

He was right — but the danger was much greater than he realized.

A Gun the Searches Had Missed

During the drive to jail, the woman repeatedly complained that she was hot and asked the deputy to open a window.

The deputy kept the air conditioning running but refused.

He told another officer that he believed she had something hidden in the back of the patrol car because she was so persistent about wanting the window opened.

The trip appeared routine until approximately 20:40 into the footage.

Then, according to the narration, the woman pulled a firearm she had concealed in her crotch area — a place the male deputy had not fully searched.

She began firing from the back seat.

The deputy immediately exited the vehicle and took cover.

“Shots fired! Shots fired!” he radioed.

“She started firing at me from in the backseat.”

The deputy returned fire.

For several tense minutes, responding officers surrounded the patrol vehicle while the suspect remained inside.

Police later said the deputy had sustained a graze wound near his right eye.

The woman also suffered minor injuries from the deputy’s return fire.

Officers Move In With Shields

Backup units arrived and prepared to extract the woman from the patrol car.

Officers approached with shields while repeatedly ordering her to keep her hands visible.

Eventually, she was ordered out and told to lie face down on the ground.

The woman said she had thrown the firearm out of the window.

Police recovered the weapon nearby.

She complained of pain near her right shoulder, but officers examining her said the injury appeared to be a scratch or graze rather than a penetrating gunshot wound.

Later, deputies discussed how the firearm had gone undetected.

A female officer was asked to conduct another search because the earlier searches had been performed primarily by male deputies.

One officer explained that the gun had been hidden in an area they could not adequately check during the roadside search.

Attempted Murder Charge and a 40-Year Sentence

Both the deputy and the suspect were hospitalized and later released.

The woman was subsequently charged with attempted second-degree murder of a law enforcement officer, possession of a firearm by a convicted felon, providing false identification to law enforcement, knowingly driving with a suspended license, possession of cocaine and possession of drug paraphernalia, according to the case summary in the footage.

Authorities also noted her prior criminal history, which included fleeing, theft, drug and weapons cases.

She was held in the Marion County Jail without bond.

The case eventually resulted in a sweeping conviction.

According to the footage, she was adjudicated guilty on all charges and sentenced to 40 years in prison.

What began as a deputy watching a Mustang roll improperly through an intersection had escalated into something no routine traffic stop could have predicted.

A false identity led to an arrest.

The arrest led to drugs being discovered.

A missed firearm turned a jail transport into a gunfight.

And a traffic violation that might ordinarily have ended with citations instead ended with an attempted-murder conviction and four decades behind bars.