FORT PIERCE, Fla. (WFLA) — A Vero Beach man is facing felony charges after swiping a machete from a Walmart in Fort Pierce and attacking the officers who tried to arrest him.
The Fort Pierce Police Department responded to the Walmart on August 30 at around 9 p.m. after multiple 911 calls reporting a man walking through the store with a machete. When officers arrived, they saw other patrons fleeing the store in a panic.
Body camera video released by the department shows a chaotic scene, and an arrest report said this made it somewhat difficult to identify the suspect at first. The man, pushing a shopping cart, attempts to leave the store when an officer grabs him by the arm and instructs him to stop.
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Suddenly, the suspect, later identified as Lawrence Fountain, 33, used his free hand to reach into the shopping cart seat and grab the machete, which was still in its packaging, fling the plastic off, and start swinging the knife at the officers.
One officer was able to dodge the strike, but Fountain struck another officer and left him with a laceration on his forearm. Other officers descend on Fountain and force him to the ground, where he continued to resist arrest before eventually being put in handcuffs, the arrest report said.
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The injured officer was taken to a local hospital, where he was treated and soon released, and Fountain was also transported for medical care after sustaining minor lacerations to his arm during the struggle. He was then discharged and transferred to the St. Lucie County Jail…