and began complaining to an employee at the counter. by AnonymousĪ woman who was upset with how long her order was taking in a McDonald’s drive-thru in Lakeland stormed into the restaurant, threw a violent tantrum and began twerking Thursday afternoon, the Polk County Sheriff’s Office said.ĭeputies said Tianis Jones, 22, of Lakeland, barged into the restaurant on U.S. “Immediately after this comment, the fire ignites,” Lopez said. The second deputy tossed the stun gun, but Crawford allegedly picked it up moments later and said, “You’re about to get Tased, dude,” according to Lopez. Another deputy tried using his stun gun, but Crawford allegedly yelled: “Kill the pump, kill the pump, there’s gas,” according to body camera video recounted by Lopez. Sheriff’s deputies, who had been alerted to reports of a man on a motorbike with a gun, tried to apprehend Barreto when he stopped at the Wawa station, Lopez said.Īfter a struggle, Barreto’s bike tipped over and fuel poured out of it, Lopez said. Lopez showed helicopter video Thursday allegedly depicting Barreto on a motorbike running red lights, doing wheelies and driving on sidewalks before the incident. He wasn’t armed and was followed 5 miles out of Osceola County into Orange County, where he stopped at a Wawa station to fill up his motorbike about a mile from his home.īarreto had been with other enthusiasts before deputies broke up the gathering, his lawyers said. In a statement Wednesday, the NeJame law firm said Barreto had been “cooked alive” in the incident. NeJame blasted the sheriff’s announcement, calling any charges that could be brought “retaliatory, unjustified, and vindictive,” according to NBC affiliate WESH. No decisions have been made regarding this incident."
In an updated statement Friday to NBC News, the state's attorney office said: "We just received the case package. Orange-Osceola State Attorney Monique Worrell said in a statement Thursday that she will file “the appropriate charges” after the completion of an investigation into the case. “But under the law his actions were reckless and he held such a disregard for human life” that they rise to culpable negligence. “I believe there was no malice,” López said. It wasn’t immediately clear if he has a lawyer to speak on his behalf. Sheriff’s Deputy David Crawford should be charged with culpable negligence, a misdemeanor, because he allegedly knew the area was covered in gas but used a stun gun anyway, López said during a news conference.Ĭrawford, who could not be reached Thursday for comment, was also burned in the fire that ignited. 27 incident.Ī lawyer for Barreto, Mark NeJame, said the fire burned 75 percent of his client's body. Osceola County Sheriff Marcos López recommended the man, Jean Barreto, be charged with fleeing, reckless driving and resisting arrest after he acted like a “menace” on the area’s roadways on a motorbike and eluded authorities who were trying to apprehend him during the Feb. Charges should be filed against both the deputy who used a stun gun on a man covered in gasoline and the man who was burned when a fire ignited, a Florida sheriff said Thursday.