VERO BEACH − A charge of aggravated battery will not be brought against a man accused of stabbing another during what police called a road rage-related fight in a parking lot, according to prosecutors.
The incident, which sent two men to a hospital, occurred April 27 in the parking area of South Beach Park,1702 Ocean Drive.
The case was closed in early June with 19th Judicial Circuit state attorneys citing Florida’s Stand-Your-Ground law and what were said to be contradictory or omitted statements from those involved and witnesses.
Stand Your Ground allows people to use force, including deadly force, in self-defense when they reasonably believe it’s necessary to prevent death or great bodily harm.
According to Vero Beach Police Department records, detectives spoke with two men described as the victim and the suspect.
According to details of the account from the man identified as the victim and his wife to police, they got into an argument with a man in a pickup who they said nearly hit them while they were walking in a pedestrian crossing area in the South Beach Park parking lot.
The man told police during the heated exchange the driver exited the truck and stabbed him.
The man who was stabbed was taken to HCA Florida Lawnwood Hospital where he received three staples for a half-inch puncture to his abdomen, according to a nurse’s statements to detectives in the report.
The man said the driver “became aggressive” after a verbal exchange about his driving, and that the man then left the parking lot.
The driver, described by police as the stabbing suspect, called 911 following the incident and was taken to Cleveland Clinic Indian River Hospital for a head injury, according to the report.
At the hospital, he told detectives that when he stopped for the couple in the crosswalk, he was approached by the pedestrian, who spat on him and punched him in the face while he was still inside the truck. He got out of his truck and the pedestrian lunged at him. In lunging, he said, the man pushed against car keys he held in his hand.
Two witnesses provided varying accounts, police and prosecutors said.
A state prosecutor rejected charging the driver citing, “insufficient evidence to establish probable cause the defendant committed an aggravated battery.”
The prosecutor noted the person identified as the victim omitted details provided by witnesses that he spat or punched the driver and when police addressed the omission, he denied having a memory of doing that.
The driver accused of the stabbing told police he acted in self-defense. The prosecutor said that because of conflicts with the victim’s statement, a primary aggressor couldn’t be determined.
The case was closed June 2, records show.
Corey Arwood is a breaking news reporter for TCPalm. Follow Corey on X @coreyarwood, or reach him by phone at 772-978-2246.
This article originally appeared on Treasure Coast Newspapers: Prosecutors cite stand-your-ground law in rejecting charges in ‘road rage’ stabbing
Reporting by Corey Arwood, Treasure Coast Newspapers / Treasure Coast Newspapers
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