Josue Hernandez, shirtless, and an unnamed Marion County sheriff’s deputy (Marion County Sheriff’s Office)
Deputies in Florida responding to a reported road rage incident ended up tussling with a suspect who had thrown $15,000 in cash out of his window, documents say.
Marion County sheriff’s deputies responded around 6:30 p.m. Saturday to the area of 17000 SW Highway 484 in Dunnellon about a road rage incident. When a deputy arrived he saw a man later identified as 38-year-old Josue Hernandez “throwing garbage” out of his car. The deputy walked up to the car and he saw a young child naked, covered in feces and unbuckled in the front seat, according to a probable cause affidavit reviewed by Law&Crime.
There were also two pit bulls in the back seat, one of which was aggressive, the affidavit said. The deputy asked Hernandez to get out of his vehicle several times, but he would not do so. As the deputy was doing this, Hernandez dropped a $100 bill out of his pocket and claimed it wasn’t his, the affidavit said.
“After my seventh time of requesting him to speak to me behind the car, he rolled the back driver side window down at which time his pit bull climbed halfway out of the window,” the deputy wrote. “He asked me ‘Are you a p—-? Are you scared of dogs?””
Hernandez allegedly told the deputy that he “just fought one like you” and got out of his car as if he were going to fight, the deputy said. The deputy got Hernandez to the ground but the suspect kept resisting commands as cars on the road whizzed by, according to the affidavit.
As they were tussling on the ground, Hernandez got up and allegedly said “Are you ready to get run over?” The deputy tried twice to use his Taser on Hernandez. The second time Hernandez fell but quickly got up and “ripped out the probes” from his body and ran away, the affidavit said. Hernandez also allegedly told his dogs to attack the deputies.
By this time, backup arrived to subdue Hernandez. They also used a spray to get the dog away from them.
As deputies searched around the car, they discovered that Hernandez was not throwing trash out of his car, but cash. They recovered more than $15,000 in various denominations, the affidavit said. Cops also found a bag containing about 8.5 grams of fentanyl along with baggies to distribute the drug, according to the affidavit.
Hernandez is facing charges of battery on an officer, resisting arrest, neglecting a child without bodily harm, trafficking in fentanyl four grams or more and possession of drug paraphernalia. He was taken to the hospital to treat his injuries and will head to the Marion County Jail upon release.
The relationship between Hernandez and the child was not immediately clear.
Have a tip we should know? [email protected]
