A homeless woman was arrested after throwing food at and biting a deputy earlier this month at an Ocala hospital.
Maria Lynn Baker, 29, was being treated at Munroe Regional Medical Center when she became agitated and advised detention deputies that she was “going to act up,” according to a Marion County Sheriff’s Office arrest affidavit. Baker then ripped off her hospital gown, and a short time later, slung her food tray and a pitcher of water toward a detention deputy, the affidavit stated. The deputy secured Baker’s right arm and placed it behind her back, in which she leaned forward and bit the deputy’s left arm. After releasing her bite, Baker then grabbed the deputy’s hair, causing the deputy to apply pressure to a pressure point under Baker’s right jaw bone to make Baker release her hair. Medical personnel noted that the bite had broken through the deputy’s skin and the deputy was taken into the emergency department to be treated.
After Baker was secured, she told the deputy “and you can’t press charges because you had a use of force on me.”
The incident was witnessed by other detention deputies, and their written statements, as well as a photo of the injury, were secured as evidence.
On Monday, Baker apologized for biting the detention deputy in an inmate request form that stated in part “I would like to say I sincerely apologize for biting you on your arm. I was in the wrong for also pushing my food on you at the hospital.”