After Dousing Relative With Chemicals, Lakeland Man Dies At Hospital

LAKELAND, FL — A man arrested by the Polk County Sheriff’s Office Monday for dousing a bedridden relative with a chemical and threatening to kill her began having medical problems while being transported in an ambulance and died at Bartow Regional Medical Center.

Deputies first came into contact with Maximino Lopez-Gonzalez when they responded to his home in a neighborhood off Old Tampa Highway and County 542 in Lakeland around 2:09 a.m. Monday for a family disturbance.

According to deputies, Lopez-Gonzalez, 58, of Lakeland doused a bedridden female relative with a chemical cleaning agent and threatened to kill her. Lopez-Gonzalez was arrested for battery domestic violence on a victim 65 years old or older and for possession of methamphetamine and drug paraphernalia.

After handcuffing him, Lopez-Gonzalez resisted deputies’ attempts to put him in the patrol car, kicking the deputies many times.

While being driven to the Sheriff’s Processing Center, Lopez-Gonzalez managed to get a hand free from the handcuffs and began striking the windows with his fists and head, acting erratically. The deputy stopped the car and requested assistance.

Other deputies responded and saw that Lopez-Gonzalez was behaving erratically, sweating profusely and making statements about seeing people and objects that were not there. Deputies felt he was showing signs of possible excited delirium or methamphetamine intoxication, and called Polk County rescue.

The deputies struggled to pull Lopez-Gonzalez out of the deputy's car. They said he punched one deputy in the face and bit another deputy's finger. They finally handcuffed him again and transferred him to an ambulance on the Polk Parkway at U.S. 98 to be taken to a local hospital.

In the process, deputies aid they discovered a clear baggie on the back seat of the patrol car containing a crystal-like substance, which tested positive for methamphetamine.

While en route to the hospital, Lopez-Gonzalez became unresponsive and medics began life-saving measures, said the sheriff's office.

At 10:58 pm, Maximino Lopez-Gonzalez was pronounced dead at the hospital.

On Tuesday, an autopsy was performed on Lopez-Gonzalez that concluded that none of his injuries were the result of law enforcement actions. Instead, it revealed liver disease and an enlarged heart. The autopsy results are pending toxicology reports.

Following protocol, independent investigations are underway by the 10th Judicial Circuit Officer Involved Deadly Incident Task Force; the Polk Sheriff's Office Administrative Investigations Unit; and the Polk County Medical Examiner's Office.

All investigative findings will be forwarded to the 10th Judicial Circuit State Attorney’s Office for review.