MARION COUNTY, Fla. — A Florida man is facing charges after allegedly threatening deputies who pulled him over for driving a vehicle with only two tires.
The Marion County Sheriff’s Office released video from a deputy’s body camera showing a traffic stop from Oct. 23 at approximately 4 a.m. Deputy Wilson, whose body camera was shared by the department on its Facebook page, saw a vehicle attempting to get on Interstate 75 with its hazard lights on and both driver’s side tires missing. The video shows the tires are gone and the vehicle is driving on what remained of the rims.
The deputy stopped the vehicle and approached the driver, who first claimed that he had hit a curb too hard and that someone had “put a curse” on him.
The deputy removed the driver from the car, and while questioning him about the damage, the driver claimed that the damage to the car left him to choose between driving home without tires or setting the SUV on fire and sleeping in the median, the Miami Herald reported.
At one point, the driver points to the vehicle and says, “That is paranormal activity.”
The deputy asked the driver to submit to a number of sobriety tests, causing the man to become increasingly upset, first saying to the deputy, “That is just you being a bald-headed white guy,” and then threatening the deputy by saying, “I’m going to break your head with a baseball bat.”
As the deputy begins to conduct a sobriety test, the suspect can be heard saying, “I’mma skin you alive if you (expletive) this up.”
At one point, deputies said the driver spat in the deputy’s face while continuing to issue threats and attempted to grab the deputy’s Taser, WPEC reported.
Deputies placed the driver, identified as Andres Orjuela-Montealegre, in the patrol vehicle, where they said he continued his tirade, spat in the vehicle, and kicked at both deputies.
Orjuela-Montealegre was charged with battery on a law enforcement officer, resisting an officer with violence, and driving under the influence. He was taken to the Marion County Jail on a $27,000 bond.
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