Sheriff T.K. Waters said an officer attempted to talk to the woman about her running car, but the woman “escalated the verbal conversation to physical violence.”
n a press conference Friday afternoon, Jacksonville Sheriff T.K. Waters announced the arrest of a woman accused of punching and biting an officer outside of an IDEA charter school on Tuesday.
EM, 39, has been arrested on charges of battery on a law enforcement officer, resisting an officer with violence and operating a motor vehicle while having a revoked driver’s license, all third-degree felonies and each punishable by up to five years in prison.
Additionally, M has received multiple traffic citations, Waters said.
The sheriff said another arrest is “forthcoming” in connection to the incident for violating Florida’s Halo Law.
“This law creates a 25-foot buffer around first responders, prohibiting individuals from approaching within this area or harassing a first responder while conducting their official duty after a verbal warning,” Waters said.
M’s arrest stems from a Tuesday, Oct. 7 incident outside the IDEA charter school, located at 1845 Bassett Rd.
M, a parent of an IDEA student who Waters called a “habitual traffic offender with revoked Florida driving privileges,” illegally parked her running car at an intersection near the school and left it unattended, Waters said.
Waters explained that Officer Holton attempted to talk to M about her car, but said M escalated the verbal conversation to physical violence.”
“She violently resisted Officer Holton and eventually, punched him repeatedly and bit him with such force that it left a bite impression on his forearm,” Waters said.
G and another woman were originally spectators, the sheriff said, but violated Florida’s Halo Law by “harassing Officer Holton and failing to provide him with a 25-foot area to safely detain M after he gave them verbal warning to get back.”
“So, what’s today’s takeaway?” Waters rhetorically asked. “If you violently resist our officers, if you punch them, if you bite them, you will be arrested. If you crowd and harass our officers or any first responder after a verbal warning, you will be arrested. Officer Holton was simply doing his job.”
Waters said there is ” an active pickup order” for a juvenile accused of making threats to shoot up IDEA Bassett following the incident.
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Source: firstcoastnews
