A Broward County man is facing six felonies, including attempted murder of a law enforcement officer, stemming from what police said was an unprompted attack on two officers after crashing his car into a house in Hallandale Beach.
Antonio Philmore, 36, of West Park, crashed in the 400 block of Northwest Seventh Court on Sunday and attacked the first officer at the scene, identified only as Officer Valchev, immediately after he got out of his patrol car, the police department said in a news release Monday.
Philmore grabbed the officer from behind in a chokehold, causing the officer to start to lose consciousness, spokesperson Grace Mariot said in the news release.
A second officer, identified in a probable cause affidavit as Officer Alexander Rodriguez, arrived and saw Valchez lying in the road with Philmore on his back, the affidavit said, as his face was turning color from struggling to breathe.
Philmore attempted to grab Valchev’s gun holster, according to the Rodriguez. Rodriguez pulled out his gun but did not shoot Philmore because of his hold on Valchev.
Another backup officer, identified in the affidavit only as Officer Tufano, punched Philmore in the face but he continued to resist. Rodriguez intentionally broke Philmore’s left arm at the elbow during the continuing struggle and were eventually able to put handcuffs on the broken arm.
Philmore bit Tufano soon after he was handcuffed, the affidavit said. Rodriguez then shocked Philmore numerous times with a Taser until they could detain him.
Both officers were taken to the hospital and had been released by Monday afternoon. Valchev’s head was injured and required staples while Tufano may have a broken hand, the news release said.
Philmore remained in the hospital as of Monday and will be booked into the Main Jail once released. He is facing one count of attempted murder of a law enforcement officer, two counts of aggravated battery on a law enforcement officer, three counts of resisting arrest with violence and one count of simple assault on a law enforcement officer.