Anthony Capitola, 30, of Pine Haven Dr. in Palm Coast is in the Flagler County jail on $47,500 bond and four charges, including assaulting a law enforcement officer, following a foot-chase and a scuffle with a sheriff’s deputy around Privacy and Princeton lanes in Palm Coast Monday evening.
The deputy—Daniel Weaver—asked Capitola to get out of his vehicle, put his hands on the trunk and comply with a pat-down. Capitola refused. Weaver ordered him to put his hands behind his back to be arrested over the driver’s license violation. Capitola’s response: “That’s not going to happen.” He tried to run off. The deputy grabbed him by the shirt. Capitola allegedly turned around and allegedly tried to punch the deputy in the face. Instead, Capitola’s right forearm struck the lower left side of the deputy’s face, according to the deputy’s report. The two wrestled, the deputy muscled Capitola to the ground, Capitola allegedly shoved the deputy by the chest, got up and began running.
Weaver’s attempt to fire a Taser dart into Capitola’s back failed. The two ran through the neighborhood until the deputy caught up with Capitola behind a residence, but even when the deputy took out his firearm and ordered Capitola to the ground several times, Capitola ran off. Catching up with him again, the deputy faced Capitola with his fist raised, ready to fight. The deputy took his nightstick to Capitola’s legs, hitting them five or six times until the nightstick fell out of the deputy’s hand, when Capitola tried to run off again.
Weaver took out his Taser again and plunked a charge into Capitola’s lower back. “Ok, ok, that’s enough,” Capitola pleaded, but, according to the deputy’s report, still would not comply with the order to place his hands behind his back. The deputy fired another charge, at which point Capitola complied.
There was no mention of shots fired in the deputy’s report. A transcript of dispatchers’ exchanges indicates that at one point there had been a report of shots fired.
Capitola, who’d been booked into the jail on May 5 on a charge of violating his driver’s license restriction and a charge of possessing drug paraphernalia, had listed a Satellite Beach, Fla., address, that time. On Monday, his address was listed as 40 Pine Haven Drive in Palm Coast. He faces four charges: assault on a law enforcement officer, resisting arrest with violence, violating his driver’s license restrictions, and attempting to escape.
Jim R. says
I don’t know what happened in this case, but it sounds like an unreasonable end result for running a stop sign. One thing I do know from personal experience is, if a cop assaults you, you are automatically arrested for assaulting the cop ,and resisting arrest. This guy may have kept running because he was scared to death.
I may be somewhat prejudiced because of my own experience with two drunken, in uniform cops that ended up with me being charged with assault with intent to kill, escape from custody, assaulting a police officer, and resisting arrest. If I didn’t resist and escape I’m sure they would have beat me to death.
I am sure glad it didn’t happen now in this authoritarian police state we are becoming ,or all the charges would not have been dismissed, and I would have ended up in jail.
What is important is to never believe the police version of events when there is a confrontation with a citizen, as any defense lawyer will tell you ,the biggest liars in court are cops.
About Time says
all i have to say is i personally know capitola and he is a good guy and i stand by him 100%. He may have been in the wrong but who wants to stand there an let a cop beat u with a stick. They charged him good. 18 months in prison. Hes taking it well and believes god will see him through it all. He will do the time and learn from his mistakes.