The driver who fled an attempted traffic stop in Umatilla early Monday and ran a red light into a Jeep, killing 44-year-old Crystalynn Fawn “Crystal” Daniels, has been identified as Jquarious Sceal, 26, of Eustis, the Florida Highway Patrol said on Wednesday — a major new development in the crash Awaaz Punjab first reported on November 9, when troopers had not yet confirmed the driver's identity and charges were still pending. Sceal faces charges of vehicular homicide and fleeing or eluding police causing injury or death, FHP Lt. Tara Crescenzi told Inside Lake on Wednesday, November 11. The charges are allegations; Sceal is presumed innocent unless proven guilty.

Source: Inside Lake, Nov 11, 2026

Sceal remained in intensive care on Wednesday and will be booked into the Lake County Jail after his release from hospital, Crescenzi said. He was taken after the crash to HCA Florida Lake Monroe Hospital in Sanford with serious injuries.

Source: Inside Lake, Nov 11, 2026

What happened early Monday, as reported on November 9

The crash happened about 4:20 a.m. on Monday, November 9, at the intersection of State Road 19 (Central Avenue) and Guerrant Street in Umatilla, a small city in Lake County in central Florida. A 2018 Nissan Frontier travelling south on SR-19 ran a red light and struck the driver's side of a 2019 Jeep Cherokee travelling east on Guerrant Street with a green light, the Florida Highway Patrol said. Daniels, who was driving the Jeep, died at the scene. FOX 35 Orlando identified her as a mother of two who lived just blocks from the collision site and was travelling to work.

Umatilla police said Tuesday that an officer tried to pull over the Nissan Frontier after seeing it speeding south on State Road 19 early Monday; FHP initially said the stop was attempted because the pickup had been reported stolen. Police said Sceal accelerated after the officer activated his blue lights, and the officer began slowing down when it became clear the driver would not stop. About six seconds after radioing that he was attempting a traffic stop, the officer reported that the pickup was fleeing and had crashed. Umatilla Police Chief David Seeley told FOX 35 the officer clocked the pickup speeding and activated emergency lights, but did not have time to initiate a pursuit before the crash.

Why identifying the driver took two days

Troopers initially could not name the driver, and the case took a further turn when Inside Lake found a Lake County Jail online booking entry dated November 9 that listed a different name. FHP Trooper Migdalisis Garcia told Inside Lake that Sceal gave that name and that troopers later verified his identity. That verification is what produced Wednesday's identification and the two announced charges.

Background: two prison terms for fleeing and vehicle theft

According to the Florida Department of Corrections records reported by Inside Lake, Sceal was released from state prison on August 18 — less than three months before Monday's crash. In December 2025 he pleaded no contest to two counts of fleeing or attempting to elude law enforcement and one count each of motor vehicle theft, possession of fentanyl and driving with a suspended licence, and state records show he was in prison from January 8 to August 18, 2026. That case stemmed from two attempted traffic stops on July 30, 2025: Eustis police said Sceal sped away from officers both times in a Lexus that had been reported stolen the previous day; officers later found the car abandoned on Reserve Drive in Tavares and arrested him near a canal off Banning Beach Road. Inside Lake's headline notes he had twice served prison time for fleeing police and stealing vehicles.

The community Daniels leaves behind

Umatilla is a city of only a few thousand people, and Daniels lived just blocks from the intersection where she died, on an ordinary pre-dawn drive to work. Local coverage described a community in mourning. For Awaaz Punjab's readers — including the many Punjabi truckers and shift workers who drive Florida's two-lane state roads in the same dark early hours — the case is a stark example of how a single decision to flee a traffic stop can end an uninvolved driver's life in seconds: by the police account, roughly six seconds passed between the stop attempt being radioed and the crash being reported.

What happens next

FHP is investigating the crash. Sceal will be booked into the Lake County Jail once he is released from hospital, Lt. Crescenzi said, and the vehicular homicide and fleeing counts will then move through the Lake County courts, where prosecutors must prove them beyond a reasonable doubt. No first court date has been announced. Awaaz Punjab first reported this crash on November 9 ("usa-florida-umatilla-sr19-stolen-pickup-fatal-nov9") and will follow the case as filings develop.