(This story was revised with new information.)
Two Polk County sheriff’s deputies fatally shot a man in West Frostproof the evening of June 13 after he smashed one of them over the head with a piece of lumber as they were arresting another man, Sheriff Grady Judd said.
The incident happened about 9:30 p.m. on West Frostproof Church Road. Judd gave details via social media from a roadside near the scene shortly after midnight on June 14. The Sheriff’s Office followed up with more details later in the day.
Two deputies ― Sgt. Dicson Collazo and Deputy Sheriff Draven Martin ― were serving a warrant for failure to pay child support. Judd said the deputies found the man, on Primitivo Garcia, 43, of Frostproof, “in a junky area about 75 yards off the road,” and began to take him into custody.
“He fought with them. They got one handcuff on him, and while they were wrestling with him and fighting with him … out of nowhere a second suspect shows up with a long 2×4 and hits one of my deputies in the head, Deputy Martin,” Judd said.
“He struck him in the head so hard that he split his head open.”
Judd said the deputies “immediately engaged” with the other suspect, identified as Garcia’s brother, Francisco Garcia-Vega, 53, who lived with Garcai, shooting him several times “as he was preparing to then strike them some more.”
During the shooting, Garcia fled, Judd said. Collazo and Martin chased him down, tased him and secured him in a patrol car, then went back to Garcia-Vega to render first aid. He was rushed to a local hospital, where we was declared dead.
Martin was taken to Lakeland Regional Health Medical Center, where he was treated for a 3.5-inch gaping wound to the back of his head, which took 11 staples to close, the Sheriff’s Office said in a news release confirmed he was released. Martin has been a deputy for 3.5 years, while Collazo has been with the agency for 12 years.
Garcia faces charges of second-degree murder, resisting arrest with violence, resisting without violence, escape and petty theft. The Sheriff’s Office said he’s also being charged with three counts of creating a nuisance injurious to health and two counts of operating a landfill without a permit, based on the condition of the property.
Several investigations will take place:
This is the fifth fatal shooting by Polk County deputies since mid-April.
On April 11, the Sheriff’s Office said a 43-year-old man from the Gainesville area was breaking into homes along Masterpiece Road in Lake Wales “asking to be killed.” When deputies arrived, he pulled a knife and walked toward them. He was fatally shot after refusing to drop the knife, according to the PCSO.
On April 18, a Polk deputy and a Bartow police officer were shot during a gunfight with a 34-year-old Fort Meade man outside the Lowe’s Home Improvement store in Bartow. The suspect, Wayne Volz, died at the hospital. The Polk deputy, Edwin Alexander, was shot in the forearm. Bartow Officer Mark Sills was shot in the chest, but his ballistics vest stop the bullet. Both were treated at Lakeland Regional Health Medical Center and were in good condition.
On April 25, John Snyder, 37, who had outstanding warrants for his arrest for a series of thefts and burglaries and had previously eluded deputies, was found by Deputy Bryan Goodman near the McDonald’s restaurant at Combee Road and Memorial Boulevard in Lakeland. When Goodman attempted to arrest him, Judd said Snyder pushed the deputy and ran. When two other deputies arrived and cornered Snyder, Judd said Snyder turned toward Goodman and pulled a knife. “The deputy told him several times to drop the knife. He continued to advance on the deputy, and Deputy Goodman shot him several times,” Judd said.
On May 26, Timothy Patrick Schulz, 42, died after being shot several times by two deputies in a gated community in the Christina neighborhood of South Lakeland. The Sheriff’s Office said Schulz had been acting bizarrely at a nearby gas station, then swam through a lake, being bitten by an alligator once, to emerge in the neighborhood. When confronted by deputies, he charged them with garden shears, then entered one of their patrol vehicles and attempted to take a rifle or shotgun. Deputies opened fire, killing him in the front passenger seat.
This article originally appeared on The Ledger: 2 Polk deputies fatally shoot man after he hit one in the head with a piece of lumber
Reporting by Lakeland Ledger / The Ledger
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