STOCK ISLAND, Fla. – A man’s generosity led to him being punched and nearly stabbed in the Florida Keys over the weekend, deputies said.
According to the Monroe County Sheriff’s Office, on Sunday afternoon, authorities responded to the fenceline mile marker 4.5 on Stock Island after receiving reports of a disturbance among several people who regularly congregate in the area.
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An arrest report states that the victim told deputies that Patrick Michael DeGrand, 42, of Key West, “attacked him for no reason.”
The man told deputies that he was “new in town” and had grilled food earlier and “offered some of the BBQ food to DeGrand, who became aggressive with him and told him, ‘I don’t take handouts,’” Deputy Nicholas Galbo wrote.
“He said he was trying to be nice and then for no reason DeGrand punched him in the left side of the face and jaw area for no reason,” Galbo wrote.
After the victim fell down, several other people came to help and defend him, the report states.
Deputies said DeGrand retreated, then came back with a large hunting knife and started swinging it at the victim, trying to slash him. He felt DeGrand “was going to kill him,” the report states.
A witness said he also swung it at those who defended the victim, “so people picked up sticks to defend themselves.”
According to the report, DeGrand told deputies that the victim was “in his face offering him food and he didn’t want it,” leading him to punch the victim in the face because he “would not leave him alone and kept getting in his personal space.”
He claimed he grabbed the knife to defend himself after people picked up sticks.
Authorities arrested DeGrand on charges of aggravated assault with a deadly weapon and battery.
It’s not his first time being accused of pulling a knife on an unsuspecting victim.
According to court documents, on July 13, 2021, Key West police arrested him on a charge of aggravated assault with a deadly weapon after he pulled a knife on a woman searching for her dog on Higgs Beach.
Police said the woman had shined a flashlight on him while he was sleeping in a pavilion, leading him to pull the weapon and tell the woman, “I will kill you.”
He later pleaded no contest to a misdemeanor charge of improper exhibition of a dangerous weapon and received a 45-day county jail sentence, with credit for 40 days time served.
As of Monday morning, he was back in jail at MCSO’s Key West jail facility, where he was being held without bond, online records show.