John Gallas
News-Journal Online
DELAND, Fla. — A DeLand man threatened his mother with a butter knife and then coughed and blew spit at deputies who responded to the domestic disturbance, sheriff’s officials said.
According to a statement released by the Volusia County Sheriff’s Office on Sunday, Brent Smith, 46, also snatched the phone from his mother when she tried to call for help.
The suspect also threatened to bash a deputy’s head with a hammer and told him he wished that he would get the coronavirus, according to the statement. Smith intentionally coughed at deputies during the arrest, a deputy’s body-worn camera video shows.
Smith now faces a series of charges after his Saturday arrest: aggravated assault with a deadly weapon, aggravated battery on a person 65 or older, tampering with a witness, robbery by sudden snatching, grand theft, assault on a law enforcement officer, corruption by threat against a public official and violation of probation on an original charge of aggravated battery on a pregnant person. He was being held without bail Sunday at the Volusia County Branch Jail.
Smith came home intoxicated Saturday evening to the residence on Leon Avenue he shares with his mother. Smith and his mother began arguing, then the suspect shoved his mother several times before grabbing a butter knife and screaming at her and calling her obscene names. He also threatened ther, saying “I will kill you!” the release states.
As Smith was placed into custody, he started arguing with deputies, coughing at them and making threats including “bashing your (expletive deleted) brains in.” Later from the back seat of a patrol car, Smith stated to the deputy: “I hope you die. I hope you catch corona. I hope the coronavirus, I hope it latches on to you.”
In a tweet Sunday afternoon, Sheriff Mike Chitwood responded to Smith’s alleged actions, writing that he wasn’t surprised someone “with little respect for his mother” would also show hatred toward law enforcement officers.
“If any of my deputies get sick after this, I’m going to hold this scumbag personally responsible,” Chitwood tweeted. “Maybe they will teach him to cover his mouth in jail.”
https://twitter.com/SheriffChitwood/status/1249374845982425090