- July 12, 2025
Palm Coast resident Adam Ellis said he was “shell-shocked” by the response from local law enforcement after his 14-year-old son was chased down by a woman driving an SUV while riding his e-bike on June 7.
Julia Kalthof, 65, of Palm Coast was arrested on June 10 and is now facing a felony aggravated assault with a deadly weapon charge after she chased Ellis’ son Gaige down the Pine Lakes Parkway pedestrian path. A bystander eventually cut Kalthof’s car off at an intersection, allowing Gaige to escape home.
“This happened only three miles from our house,” Ellis said.
The incident was recorded by the bystander’s girlfriend and by Gaige. But Kalthof’s arrest only came after Ellis said he spent three days waiting on FCSO deputies to take action.
Ellis said he couldn’t believe it when the deputy told him on June 8 there was nothing to be done. According to the computer aided dispatch notes of Ellis’ conversation with the deputy - no written report was filed - Gaige told the deputy that the woman chased him from a neighboring subdivision, almost cut him off at an intersection and then almost hit him with her vehicle.
Despite that, the deputy said driving on the pedestrian path was a traffic violation and that the video evidence Gaige recorded was not proof of intent to commit a crime, Ellis said.
“He said, ‘I’m going to be honest with you, if she wanted to hit him and run him over, she would have,’” Ellis said. “My wife and I were like, what is going on right now?”
FCSO Division Chief Jon Welker said Kalthof was not initially charged because there was no evidence of intent to harm behind her actions. When Kalthof’s statement was taken, he said, even though she admitted to following Gaige on his e-bike, on a pedestrian path, she never alluded to intending to cause the 14-year-old harm.
She wanted to confront him about his speed, according to her arrest report.
“The statute requires an intent on the suspect’s part to cause harm to an individual,” Welker said. “The intent of the suspect is one of the determining factors in charging somebody with that crime.”
And because Gaige did not remain on scene to make a statement, Kalthof was released without even a citation that night. In the initial interview with deputies, Welker said Gaige “didn’t describe any intent” on Kalthof’s part.
Ellis said he took to social media. He posted his son’s video, which showed Gaige riding his e-bike at night on one of Palm Coast’s multi-use pedestrian paths with a car behind him. Ellis said his Facebook post “exploded.”
The next day, Ellis called the dispatch line when he did not hear anything from the FCSO. The dispatcher’s advice, Ellis said, was to call 911 and start the report all over again.
So he did. And again, he said, the responding deputy told him the same thing: nothing can be done.
“That’s when the emotions overtook,” Ellis said. “I threatened to sue him. I said, I need your badge number. I’m going to hire any attorney that will take this.”
That’s when the deputy brought out the paperwork, Ellis said - willingness to prosecute and sworn written statements forms.
Ellis also began reaching out to the press. It was through a reporter with the Daytona Beach News Journal, he said, that he even learned there was a witness who intervened on his son’s behalf, and that a second video of the chase that showed Kalthof driving behind Gaige’s e-bike on the pedestrian path had been uploaded and given to the FCSO.
It wasn’t until the next day, Tuesday, June 10, that the deputy returned to his home with a supervisor who apologized to him for how his son’s case was handled.
Ellis asked the supervisor about the witness’ statement and was told the supervisor and deputy were on the way to speak to them.
That evening, Ellis said, the FCSO deputy called and said Kalthof had been arrested on an aggravated assault with a deadly weapon and a misdemeanor for reckless driving.
“The witness statement matched my son’s statement to the letter,” Ellis said.
Welker said it was after the deputy spoke to Gaige on June 9 when Gaige filed a victim’s statement, and then spoke to the witnesses on June 10 that the deputy found probable cause for aggravated assault. Welker said Gaige added details to his statement during the interview and “determined he felt fear based on her actions.”
Gaige’s June 9 written statement exactly matched the CAD notes from his verbal statement to a deputy on June 8. The difference was Gaige explicitly added that “he was afraid for his life.”
Ellis said he wants to know why Kalthof thought she was above the law. If his son was driving too fast, he said, she should have called the police.
“I’m glad she’s getting punished because she did think for a split second she was above the law,” he said. “I don’t know why anybody would chase a child.”
