This is Story about Nikolas J Cruz
Supported by kayla
Nikolas Cruz, Parkland Shooting Suspect, Is Charged With Assaulting Deputy in Jail
Nikolas Cruz with two lawyers during a status check on his case in Fort Lauderdale, Fla., in August.CreditPool photo by Amy Beth Bennett
Image
Nikolas Cruz, the man charged with killing 17 people at a high school in Parkland, Fla., in February, faces three new charges of assaulting an officer in jail and grabbing his electroshock weapon, the authorities said on Wednesday.
Mr. Cruz, 20, is being held in the Broward Sheriff’s Office’s main jail, in Fort Lauderdale, Fla., as he awaits trial on 34 counts of premeditated murder and attempted murder in the shooting on Feb. 14 at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School.
The new charges relate to a fight with a deputy at the jail on Tuesday, shortly before 6 p.m., the sheriff’s office said in a statement on Wednesday. The deputy, Sgt. Raymond Beltran, told Mr. Cruz to “not drag his sandals on the ground” in a day room, according to an affidavit. It said Mr. Cruz made an obscene gesture at the sergeant and “rushed” him and “struck him in the face.”
The two men ended up on the ground, the affidavit said. Video, which the authorities did not release, shows that Mr. Cruz was on top of Sergeant Beltran at one point, punching him multiple times in the head, according to the affidavit.
Advertisemen
Mr. Cruz grabbed Sergeant Beltran’s electroshock weapon out of his holster, the video shows. As the two men struggled for control of the weapon, it went off, the affidavit said. Mr. Cruz hit Sergeant Beltran several more times, until the sergeant struck at Mr. Cruz’s face while holding the weapon, according to the affidavit.
Mr. Cruz faces charges of assault and battery of an officer, and an obstruction charge related to the struggle for the weapon, the affidavit said. A shackled Mr. Cruz appeared in court on Wednesday to hear the charges of battery and of using an electrical or chemical weapon against a law enforcement officer, The Sun-Sentinel reported.
A hearing for the third charge will be on Friday, the newspaper reported.
A call to the public defenders’ office, which is representing Mr. Cruz, was not returned.
It was not immediately clear whether the sergeant or Mr. Cruz was injured in the encounter.
Prosecutors in Florida are seeking the death penalty against Mr. Cruz in the massacre at Stoneman Douglas High, which he carried out with an AR-15 semiautomatic rifle when he was 19, the authorities have said.
He had announced his goals on three videos recorded on his cellphone before the shooting, saying: “You’ll all know who I am. You’re all going to die.”
Of the 34 counts on which Mr. Cruz has been indicted, 17 are of premeditated murder in the first degree, and 17 are of attempted murder in the first degree.
Parents of students killed in the Parkland shooting were angered this week after Mr. Cruz was reported to have registered to vote in the midterm elections from jail — even though it would not have been illegal for him to vote, The Sun-Sentinel and other news outlets reported.
Voting records show that Mr. Cruz registered on July 25 as a Republican.
“Just because something is technically legal doesn’t make it just or ethical,” Andrew Pollack, whose 17-year-old daughter, Meadow, was among those killed, on Nov. 12. “Everyone knew this notorious killer had just admitted to 17 murders. Outrageous to go out of the way to register that thing to vote when my daughter can no longer even breathe.”
No comments:
Post a Comment