FORT PIERCE, Fla. (WFLA) – A Vero Beach man faces felony charges after swiping a machete from Fort Pierce’s Walmart and attacking an officer who tried to arrest him.
The Fort Pierce Police Station responded to Walmart around 9pm on August 30 after reporting a man walking around the store on a machete on multiple 911 calls. When officers arrived, they saw the other patrons fleeing the store in panic.
The body camera video released by the department showed a confused scene, and the arrest report said this initially made it somewhat difficult to identify the suspect. The man pushes the shopping cart and tries to leave the store when the policeman grabs him by his arm and instructs him to stop.
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Suddenly, the suspect, later identified as Lawrence Fountain, 33, uses his free hand to reach for the cart seat, grabbed a machete that was still in the package, throws out the plastic, and begins swinging a knife at the officers.
One officer was able to dodge the strike, but the fountain attacked another officer, leaving a laceration in the forearm. Other officers descended onto the fountain and surged to the ground, and he continued to resist the arrest before he finally handcuffed, the arrest report said.
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The injured officer was taken to a local hospital where he was treated and released soon after, and farming was transported for medical care after maintaining minor tears in his arms during the struggle. He was then discharged from the hospital and transferred to the St. Lucie County Jail.
Investigators also learned that the fountain did not arrive with the machete, but went to the store to buy it. He didn’t pay it and was about to leave the store when he was arrested, so the weapon was deemed stolen.
Fountain has been charged with three felony. The worsening battery of officers, worsening attacks with deadly weapons, resisting officers with violence, two misdemeanors, Petit theft and intruding peace.
