ORANGE COUNTY, Fla. – A police detective from Massachusetts is accused of shoving and threatening to kill workers at Disney’s Epcot last week before shoving an Orange County sheriff’s deputy who was trying to interact with him.
Duane Danforth, 38, was arrested on Jan. 30 by the sheriff’s office. According to an arrest affidavit, Danforth shoved two workers as he tried to get into an area of Epcot that was roped off for a private event. He also told one of the workers that he would kill them, the report states. The workers said he appeared to be intoxicated.
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Later, deputies looking for Danforth confronted him at the park turnstiles, according to the arrest affidavit. They said Danforth pushed one of the deputies away with his hands as they tried to talk to him, nearly knocking the deputy off balance. They brought him to the floor and Danforth tried to resist being handcuffed.
Deputies say Danforth later told them he knew the deputies were law enforcement officers and that he should not have pushed the deputy.
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Danforth was treated at Doctor Phillips Hospital for minor injuries. He faces charges of battery, battery on a law enforcement officer and resisting an officer without violence.
Danforth is a police detective for the Brookline Police Department in Brookline, Massachusetts. The agency made a statement saying Danforth was on administrative leave.
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