19-year-old killed after he rams patrol car, climbs in with deputy, Florida cops say

A 19-year-old man with parents in law enforcement was killed by a sheriff’s deputy in Florida when he rammed a patrol car, then forced his way into the front seat, according to investigators.

Witnesses reported the suspect was acting “like a madman” when he pursued Deputy Christian Quattlebaum, the Polk County Sheriff’s Office reports.

Quattlebaum, 26, was hospitalized with undisclosed injuries, officials said.

It happened around 9:30 p.m. on Friday, July 12, in Winter Haven’s Oakwood Estates mobile home park. Winter Haven is about a 50-mile drive east from Tampa.

Polk County Sheriff Grady Judd reports the dangerous series of events began when the suspect “went into a rage” over an Almond Joy candy bar melting atop a computer at his grandmother’s home in Oakwood Estates.

In the minutes that followed, he jumped into an unregistered car at his parents’ nearby home, called 911 to report he was about to commit a crime, then ran over his grandmother as she tried to stop him, officials said. (He does not have a driver’s license, Judd noted.)

Quattlebaum arrived to see the suspect’s parents searching for him, and turned to see the teenager accelerating “at a high rate of speed,” directly into the side of the patrol car, Judd said.

“At that instance, a neighbor said that this man jumped out of his vehicle in an absolute rage like a mad man, ran to the driver’s side door of the deputy’s vehicle and started yanking on it until it came open. And started climbing into the vehicle,” he said.

“Now, in the meantime, our deputy is trying to get out of the passenger side of the car, because he doesn’t know what this person’s doing. ... When our suspect Henry gets into the front seat with the deputy and is aggressively moving toward him, our deputy shoots.”

The man died at the scene, as his father was attempting CPR, Judd said. His father is a nurse who works for the Polk County jail system and his mother is a detention deputy.

Quattlebaum has been with the department more than 4 years and his wife works as a detective, Judd said.

The suspect’s grandmother was hospitalized with a broken arm and was in stable condition. Her injuries were caused when the suspect had his car door open and put the vehicle in reverse as she stood nearby, Judd said. She was struck by the door and dragged, he said.

This story was originally published July 15, 2024 at 5:17 AM with the headline "19-year-old killed after he rams patrol car, climbs in with deputy, Florida cops say."