Three deputies were hospitalized on Thursday in Orange County after the sheriff’s office said they were injured while trying to arrest someone.
According to the Orange County Sheriff’s Office, deputies around 12:24 p.m. responded to the Timbers Manufactured Home Community after residents told them a man was throwing rocks and bricks at the trailers pulling on air conditioning units and “exhibiting concerning behaviors.”
Other WRAL Top Stories
"His behavior had been going on like that for a little bit," said Juan Ruiz, a nearby neighbor. "Today was, I guess, when the whole thing snapped."
When the deputies arrived, witnesses and residents described the man to them and said the man stole items from another home.
Ruiz's security camera outside of his home captured footage of the man, later identified as Jorge Luis Lopez Duran, 53, trying to take a grill off of his front porch. Ruiz said it wasn't necessarily about the cost of the grill, but the sentimental value it had.
"It's been in our family for a while," Ruiz said. "We had it for a long time [and] used it for family events."
Ruiz said he and his family were afraid to come out of their home because they were concerned Duran would become more agitated.
Deputies later saw Duran inside a residence with the door open. When the deputies entered the home, a fight broke out.
According to the sheriff's office, Duran didn't use a weapon to attack the deputies and even bit them multiple times.
Deputies, along with Hillsborough Police Department officers, took Duran into custody after subduing him with a Taser around 1:06 p.m.
Deputies told WRAL News that the man had recently been released from the Orange County Jail and lived in the neighborhood. Orange County Sheriff Charles Blackwood he believes Duran had been under the influence of drugs during the assault.
The sheriff’s office said the deputies sustained serious injuries. Two of the deputies have been discharged, but one remains hospitalized with a serious head injury.
"His eye had already begun to turn purple and black when I saw him at the scene. The side of his head was swollen and scuffed. He had severe bite marks or bites on both of his hands around his little fingers. " Blackwood said. "I think they were x-raying for nerve damage on that."
The sheriff's office said all three deputies are expected to be okay.
“Law enforcement officers intellectually know their job comes with risk, but the reality of the sacrifice they are willing to make for the public remains somewhat abstract until it is not. Today, their sacrifice was very real and it was painful,” Blackwood said.
Authorities charged Duran with three counts of assaulting a law enforcement officer and inflicting serious bodily injury. Duran is expected to be charged with larceny and damage to property.
The sheriff’s office said it would release more information at a later time.