MIAMI – Police arrested a Lauderdale-by-the-Sea man Wednesday after they said he “lunged” for a U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs police officer’s gun at the Miami VA Medical Center and nearly disarmed him.
According to a report from the Miami Police Department, the incident happened June 25, as a VA police officer escorted Jeremy Travis Pitts from the emergency department to another unit in the hospital, located at 1201 NW 16th St.
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Police said as Pitts, 44, and the officer walked down the hallway near the hospital’s Starbucks location, Pitts “lunged from his wheelchair” towards the officer and grabbed the grip of his gun while yelling “give me the gun” numerous times.
The officer was able to get Pitts’ hand off the gun and was assisted in getting him under control by a VA police dispatcher and a nurse technician before backup arrived.
Police went to the hospital Wednesday to arrest Pitts. He was charged with aggravated assault on a police officer, a second-degree felony, and was being held at the Turner Guilford Knight Correctional Center on a $7,500 bond as of Thursday afternoon.
If Pitts bonds out, according to jail records, he’ll be on house arrest.