Man Attacks Grandfather, Throws Drill at Deputy

A Gulf Harbors man was accused recently of beating his grandfather, then striking neighbors with darts and firing up a makeshift “flame thrower.”

He later threw a cordless drill at law enforcement officers and resisted arrest until deputies physically subdued him after firing taser devices at him.

The incident started late Friday night after the man’s grandfather arrived at a single–family home on Blue Heron Drive with food, the grandfather told deputies. He told the man he had food for him, and the man told him he ”already got pizza.”

The man started acting strange and paced around the house and slammed doors, according to the grandfather. The grandfather grew afraid and made his way to the front door, but found the deadbolt locked.

The man then began hitting his grandfather on the back of the head with what the grandfather thought was a flashlight. He turned around, and the man continued his attack with a flashlight. The grandfather unlocked the front door, ran into the street and called for help.

The man shoved his grandfather onto the street as neighbors came outside, a report said. The grandfather had several injuries to his head and arms, and his right arm was bleeding, swollen and apparently broken.

A neighbor told deputies the attacker was only wearing boxers. He told deputies the man yelled at him and removed darts from the underwear.

He said the man threw the darts at him and his son, and they hit their targets and pierced skin, according to deputies.

Then the man charged them and began swinging violently. The neighbor and his son wrestled the man to the ground. After continued fighting, the neighbor and son backed off, and the man ran back into the house.

Then the man came back out with a can of hair spray and lighter, used the ignited device “like a flame thrower” and chased after the neighbor.

The attacker returned into the house. Deputies arrived. One knocked on the locked front door. The man inside the house replied  “No one’s home.”        

Two deputies used an unlocked garage to enter the home. The man appeared at the end of the hallway. A deputy yelled at his partner to fire his taser and fired his own at the man as the man threw a cordless power drill at him. The drill struck a deputy in the chest.

The fired tasers missed the man who then fled into his room. A deputy kicked open the door. The man lunged at him and swung at him with his fists. He connected with the deputy’s lower lip and punched him several times in the head. 

The deputy was pushed backward. The other deputy said he fired pepper spray.

After the man retreated into the room, the deputy who had fallen backward followed. The man charged him and they got into another fight in which the deputy hit him with the taser gun and threw a fan at him.

The man ended up on the ground. The deputy got his taser out and “drive stunned him in the shoulder area," according to the deputy’s report.

The man began saying odd things. After another deputy arrived, they were able to get handcuffs on the man.

The man was taken to Community Hospital and medically cleared and then booked into custody.

Arrested at 2:20 a.m. Saturday was Cody K. Ford, 20. 

He was charged with battery on a person who is at least 65 years old, aggravated battery on a person who is at least 65 years old, two counts of aggravated battery, one count of aggravated assault, one count of resisting an officer with violence and two counts of battery on a law enforcement officer.

Ford was being held at the Land O' Lakes Jail today on $160,000 bond.