A DeLand police officer was dispatched to East New York Avenue to investigate a report of a man crawling on the road and shouting. There the officer found a 42-year-old guy behaving erratically.
The lawman “yelled out to the subject as he was staggering in the roadway unable to maintain balance.” Then Unbalanced Walker “stumbled to the ground,” and the officer told him to sit down.
The officer noticed that Unbalanced Walker had abrasions and cuts on his hands and knees, so he asked the DeLand Fire Department for nonemergency help.
He kept up his rapport with Unbalanced Walker, but “observed that [Unbalanced Walker’s] actions began to heighten as he refused to have a seat after being given verbal commands.”
Unbalanced Walker “continued to yell, stretch his arms out, and move closer towards [the officer].”
The lawman turned his head briefly and, when he turned back, he saw Unbalanced Walker coming toward him in an aggressive way. The deranged fellow was holding his own shirt in his hands, his fists clenched, quickly advancing on the officer, as though he intended to strangle him with the shirt.
The officer used a leg sweep to put Unbalanced Walker on the ground. Another officer came on-scene, and he and the first officer tried to put Unbalanced Walker in handcuffs but were unable to until they shocked him with a Taser stun gun. Even so, it required the two lawmen, plus a number of Fire Department personnel, to subdue the lunatic.
DeLand police drove the guy to AdventHealth DeLand. “Hospital personnel advised that [Unbalanced Walker] was high on an unknown narcotic amongst other medical issues after his test results came back.”
What a surprise!
— By Keith Allen, based on local police-agency reports. If you have information about a crime, call Crime Stoppers, 1-888- 277-TIPS. You could be eligible for a reward.
