Deputies say man made getaway on back of truck

ORLANDO, Fla. (WOFL FOX 35) - Deputies say the sight of a man "truck surfing" on John Young Parkway sparked a lot of calls to the Orange County Sheriff's Office. 

"We're getting all kinds of phone calls about a man hitching a ride on the back of a tractor-trailer," explained Sheriff's Office spokesperson Jane Watrel.  "In fact, video shows him doing that."

Deputies later identified that man as Derrick Maestas, 20, and they say he was using the truck as his getaway vehicle after allegedly battering a woman in an incident that started on-board a Lynx bus.

"The victim was on her cell phone apparently, in the back of the bus where it was extremely loud, so she was talking in a loud voice," Watrel said. "The suspect didn't like it, told her she was too loud.  Instead of just letting it go, when she went off the bus, he followed her and he assaulted her."

Deputies tracked Maestas down, because so many people called when they saw the man hitching a free ride.

"Because citizens got involved, they saw something and said something… we were able to solve this within an hour."

The Sheriff's Office says they did not give Maestas a ticket for the truck surfing, but instead, they are pursing a felony charge on the battery accusation.