A Florida sheriff’s deputy conducting patrols in Palm Coast late Saturday night spotted a male on the sidewalk alongside Pine Lakes Parkway standing next to a bicycle on the ground, the Flagler County Sheriff’s Office said. Palm Coast is just over half an hour south of St. Augustine.
The patrol car’s video indicates the deputy tried to get the attention of the male in question — later identified as 38-year-old Michael McDermott — and ordered him to stop, after which the deputy activated his emergency lights.
The sheriff’s office said a 9mm Ruger firearm was found near McDermott — who actually was wearing a holster for the weapon.
While McDermott appeared to comply, slowing down enough for the deputy to stop and exit his patrol vehicle, McDermott apparently changed his mind and disregarded the law enforcement officer’s command and starting pedaling away down Westminster Drive.
With that, the deputy got back into his patrol vehicle and went after McDermott — and then soon saw McDermott pulling a gun from his pants, the sheriff’s office said.
Fearing that McDermott would engage him with the firearm, the deputy struck McDermott with his patrol vehicle, ejecting McDermott from the bicycle.
The deputy — with the assistance of another deputy who arrived as backup — handcuffed McDermott, pulled him from the ground, and began questioning him on the hood of the patrol vehicle.
The sheriff’s office said a 9mm Ruger firearm was found near McDermott — who actually was wearing a holster for the weapon.
McDermott was arrested for assault or battery on a law enforcement officer, fleeing and eluding, resisting an officer with violence, and possession of a firearm by a convicted felon, the sheriff’s office said.
McDermott first was taken to a hospital due to a minor injury to his right ankle, officials said, after which he was taken to the Sheriff Perry Hall Inmate Detention Facility.
The suspect possesses an extensive arrest history in Flagler County since 2013, the sheriff’s office said, adding that he was released from that same jail on Dec. 17 after serving a 90-day sentence for possession of fentanyl.
“The job that a deputy sheriff does to proactively protect our community is a dangerous one, and deputies must often make split-second decisions,” Flagler Sheriff Rick Staly said. “In this instance, Deputy Murphy was forced to make a split-second decision in a dangerous encounter with an armed felon. This incident could have taken a deadly turn, and I am thankful that the situation was quickly resolved before that became a reality.”
‘My mother says when you gonna live your life right’
Substantially adding to comic relief was the revelation by the sheriff’s office that “Girls Just Want to Have Fun” by Cyndi Lauper indeed was playing on the deputy’s radio while the incident unfolded.
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