Associated Press
WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. (AP) - A teen-ager who kicked a deputy faces a second-degree murder charge because the officer died of a heart attack hours later.
William Robert Waters Jr., 17, resisted arrest with violence resulting in the deputy’s death, said Palm Beach County Sheriff’s Lt. Ed Serafin. He also was charged with disorderly conduct and assaulting a law enforcement officer.
He was being held at the county Juvenile Assessment Center until his first court appearance Monday.
Deputy Donald Lee Schavolt, 48, died Sunday from a massive heart attack hours after he was kicked, officials said.
“While it doesn’t have all the fanfare of someone being shot and being lost, it’s still a grievous loss,” said Sheriff Ed Bieluch.
Deputies said they found Waters lying in a road and apparently drunk early Sunday.
Four deputies restrained Waters after he rushed at them when his father came to pick him up. Handcuffed and in leg restraints, Waters then kicked Schavolt as the deputy put him in a patrol car, according to sheriff’s reports.
In 1998, prosecutors charged a woman with second-degree murder for the heart attack death of a 65-year-old woman shortly after the two argued. Joelle Gibbs, 43, of West Palm Beach, was convicted of a lesser charge, which was later reversed.