WINTER GARDEN, Fla. – An Orlando man fleeing Winter Garden police struck an officer with a car and bit another on the leg Tuesday evening after causing thousands of dollars in property damage at a convenience store, arrest affidavits show.
Employees of the Mobil gas station at 12961 W. Colonial Drive asked authorities to trespass Malik Smith, 27, from the property after he jumped on the counter of 592 Smoke Shop, which is located in the store, where he destroyed display cases and pulled a light fixture out of the ceiling, an affidavit describes.
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Winter Garden police responded to the store around 7:50 p.m., but Smith had already left, harassing customers on his way out after causing approximately $2,000 in damage, according to officials.
As an officer went over surveillance video with the store owner, the proprietor saw Smith walking back to the business and identified him, police said.
Smith ran from the officers, ignoring verbal commands as he entered his vehicle and sped off from the gas station’s fuel island to the other side of the parking lot, according to an affidavit. After a left turn, Smith approached the entrance of the store before stopping, revving his engine and accelerating through the entrance way, police said.
Two officers reported stepping out of the vehicle’s erratic path as it accelerated in their direction; Smith swerved the vehicle toward one of the officers, striking the officer’s arm with a side mirror before speeding off westbound on Colonial Drive, police said. The officer was reportedly taken to a hospital for treatment, but the extent of their injuries were not released.
Around 7:59 p.m., an officer en route to an unrelated call reported seeing a man later identified as Smith “on the roof of a vehicle dancing and pointing at vehicles driving by” at Colonial Drive’s intersection with South Dillard Street, the affidavit states.
The officer attempted to conduct a traffic stop that Smith initially did not comply with, pulling into a 7-Eleven parking lot and walking into the store as the officer waited outside. Once out of the store, the officer said Smith walked toward his vehicle and ignored his orders to get on the ground, prompting authorities and a K-9 officer to conduct a coordinated takedown.
Smith resisted officers while on the ground, at one point biting the left thigh area of the reporting officer before the K-9 was deployed to help apprehend him, the affidavit describes. Still, police said Smith stood from the ground, evading the K-9 and appearing to resist the effects of pepper spray as he attempted again to enter his vehicle.
An officer used a Taser on Smith, causing him to fall as the K-9 got a “successful bite” to his upper right arm area, police said. Following a brief struggle, Smith was placed in double-locked handcuffs, taken to a hospital for evaluation of the dog bite and taken to the Orange County jail, where he was held without bond at the time of this report, records show.
Smith faces charges of battery on a law enforcement officer, aggravated battery on a law enforcement officer, fleeing or attempting to elude a police officer, criminal mischief over $1,000, violation of probation, resisting an officer with violence and two counts of resisting an officer without violence.
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