FLAGLER COUNTY, Fla. – Two Flagler County deputies and a Bunnell police officer were injured Tuesday night while arresting a “combative” DUI driver, according to sheriff’s officials.
Deputies responded to assist Bunnell police with a DUI investigation around 7 p.m. in the area of East Moody Boulevard and North Palmetto Street.
According to the Flagler County Sheriff’s Office, 56-year-old Richard Lakin made an illegal U-turn and police conducted a traffic stop.
Lakin told law enforcement he had just left a bar and drank four beers, deputies said. He had “slurred speech, bloodshot and glassy eyes, the odor of alcohol on his breath, and an argumentative demeanor,” according to a release.
During a field sobriety test, deputies said Lakin became “visibly angry and argumentative” and then started walking toward an officer’s patrol car saying, “You all got me” and that he was going to jail.
Deputies said Lakin became “even more agitated” during the arrest and began to resist before he was taken to the ground and handcuffed. The sheriff’s office said while he was on the ground, Lakin began flailing his legs and hit one deputy, causing a “minor abrasion.”
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“Stop, what’s the matter with you,” one deputy is heard on bodycamera video while trying to handcuff Lakin.
Officials said a Bunell officer and two Flagler deputies were injured with “abrasions and gashes” during the “scuffle.”
Flagler County Fire Rescue responded to treat Lakin, who began yelling and hitting his head on the cage in the patrol car, deputies said.
The sheriff’s office said deputies found a half-full beer in the back of Lakin’s car during a search.
Lakin was previously arrested in 2021 for battery and obstruction without violence, when he shoved a bartender and resisted arrest. He pled no contest to those charges and adjudication was withheld. He also has a history out of Duval County, where he was charged with disorderly intoxication, battery, and obstruction without violence in 2017. His previous charges also extend outside of Florida, he was charged with possession, assault, and destruction of property in Maryland.
Flagler County Sheriff's Office
Lakin was arrested and faces charges of DUI, resisting with violence, three counts of battery on a law enforcement officer and refusal to submit to a breath test.
He was taken to jail, where he was later released on $14,000 bond.