An Orange County deputy sheriff shot a man who attacked him Saturday morning while he was checking on a suspicious person behind a Pine Hills discount store, according to Sheriff John Mina.
Mina, who declined to identify the man or the deputy who shot him, said he will be charged with aggravated battery on a law enforcement officer plus additional charges related to the firearms he had.
First aid was provided on scene for the man’s gunshot wounds until paramedics arrived to transport him to a hospital where he was last reported in stable condition, the sheriff said during a news conference a few hours after the altercation. The deputy was also taken to a hospital to be checked for a head injury and is currently in good condition.
“This case just illustrates how dangerous it is for our deputies, Mina said. “One minute our deputy’s helping this guy over the fence to find out what he’s doing and within seconds he’s being punched in the face … in a fight for his life.
“I’m extremely proud of the deputy and the training that we put our deputies through because it showed in this fight.
The sheriff said the incident began around 8 a.m. when the deputy approached a man in a fenced-in area behind the Save Discount store on North Hiawassee Road to ask what he was doing there. The man jumped the fence as if he was going to speak to the deputy but instead grabbed a bag off the ground and tried to flee. The deputy grabbed the man to detain him but he started punching him in the face repeatedly.
“He punched him in the face probably 10 times. Our deputy was in this struggle (and) fight with this man for a minute and 16 seconds,” he said. “This is an extremely long time to be in a fight, especially when you’re being punched in the face.”
During the altercation the deputy fell onto his back and the man punched him in the head at least 10 more times, Mina said. As the struggle continued two objects, later determined to be handguns, fell out of the man’s bag.
“The man ran toward those firearms, picked those firearms up, and that’s when our deputy used his service weapon and struck the man several times.” he said.
Mina said the man has an extensive criminal history of “just doing bad guy stuff from robbery to larceny to a slew of other charges.”
Video of the altercation obtained from the deputy’s body-worn cameras will be released as soon as possible, he said, adding there is also footage from the store’s surveillance camera.
The Florida Department of Law Enforcement will investigate the incident, as is standard in officer-involved shootings, and turn its findings over to the State Attorney’s Office. Once that review is complete the Sheriff’s Office will do an internal investigation. The deputy is being put on paid administrative leave — also standard procedure.