VIERA, Fla. – A Cocoa police officer arrested in December after an hours-long standoff with Brevard County law enforcement at a Viera home was denied bond Thursday.
Patrick Kelly, 39, faced Judge Charles Crawford at the bond hearing.
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“I wish he had gotten the help that he now seeks before all this happened,” Judge Crawford said of a defense attorney’s request to allow Kelly to seek alcohol and mental health treatment.
A woman whom the Brevard Sheriff’s Office said was the victim of the domestic violence call testified that Kelly threatened to kill her, her son, his boss at the police department and shoot every law enforcement officer who responded to their Viera home.
“The facts are atrocious,” Assistant State Attorney Domenick Leo told Judge Crawford.
Leo said Kelly fired hundreds of shots through the house.
The victim’s hands were shaking as she looked through pictures from the scene.
She testified Kelly told her several times he wasn’t letting her leave the house.
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“I was terrified,” she said. “He said, ‘I’m going to kill every single [expletive] that shows up here tonight.’”
The victim said Kelly locked her in their bedroom with him by tying his police vest to the door.
As Kelly loaded and pointed guns at her, she said she couldn’t escape the house until Kelly picked up shotgun shells he dropped on the floor.
Kelly’s attorney argued the officer eventually complied and surrendered to SWAT team members.
“And as horrific as this incident was, Mr. Kelly did not actually injure anyone,” Jennifer Collins Mostert said.
Kelly’s already spent weeks behind bars, having requested the hearing earlier this month. A Cocoa police officer since December 2007, he is currently suspended without pay, pending termination, according to the Cocoa Police Department.
During the four-hour standoff — which began late Dec. 28 at the home on Framura Lane — investigators reported a woman called for help and said Kelly had threatened her and himself with a gun. As a SWAT team negotiated with Kelly, deputies said the officer fired multiple times from inside the home, yet no injuries from gunfire were reported.
Kelly was arrested the next morning, just after 6 a.m.
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The department has since said Kelly was arrested in 2017 and accused of domestic violence battery, keeping his job because the charges were dropped.
“While there are those in the community that will take this opportunity to attribute the actions of Officer Kelly to current departmental leadership, Officer Kelly was previously arrested back in 2017 for felony domestic violence battery. After those charges were dropped, Officer Kelly was allowed to remain with the department,” police said in a statement.
The state attorney’s office is filing charges against Kelly, including kidnapping with a firearm. This means that if Kelly is convicted, he could face life in prison.
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