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Thursday, March 28, 2024

Deputies forced to use taser on schnapps-drinking woman who went berserk

Tina Diane Smith

Marion County sheriff’s deputies were forced to taser an Ocala woman twice and place her in a hobble restraint before finally getting her under control to arrest her on a domestic battery charge last week.

Deputies were called to a residence last Wednesday on Southwest 93rd Lane and found Tina Diane Smith, 38, near a retention pond a few houses away. When they approached her, she was sitting under a tree and appeared to be under the influence of alcohol or drugs. As soon as she saw the deputies, she yelled, “(expletive deleted) you, I hate cops” and “If you come near me, I will kill you,” a sheriff’s office report states.

When asked if she had a weapon, Smith replied, “Well, you will find out, won’t you” and continued to make threatening statements. When told to stand up and place her hands behind her back to be handcuffed, Smith refused and tried to pull away. She tried to strike a deputy multiple times before being tased and falling to the ground on her stomach. She continued to resist by trying to roll over and swing her arms at the deputies until she was tased again and finally placed in handcuffs, the report says.

Once in restraints, Smith refused to stand up and walk to the patrol car. At one point she kicked a deputy in the shin and tried to pull away from their grasp. At the car, she refused to get in the back seat, and once inside she started kicking the windows. She was then placed in a hobble restraint.

Marion County Fire Rescue paramedics tried to talk to her and evaluate her for injuries, but she was uncooperative and made threatening statements to them as well, the report says.

Smith’s alleged victim said they had been playing Yahtzee and drinking schnapps before Smith had too much to drink and he tried to get her to go to bed. After she started yelling and screaming at him, the man decided to leave her alone and go to bed. A short time later, Smith came into his room, picked up his rolling desk chair and threw it on him while he was in bed, the report says, adding that she then jumped on him and began hitting him in the face.

The victim said he got up and went into the living room and Smith followed him and continued to hit him in the face, causing his eyeglasses to cut his nose and ears. She also allegedly tried to choke him before he went outside to call 911, the report says.
When Smith followed the man outside, he went back inside, locked her out of the house and waited for law enforcement to arrive. Deputies noted the victim had dried blood on his face, ears and neck, as well as a small cut on the bridge of his nose and small cuts on his ears.

In addition to domestic battery causing bodily harm, Smith was charged with resisting an officer with violence and assaulting a law enforcement officer. She was taken to the Marion County Jail, where she was released Friday on her own recognizance. Her next appearance in Marion County Court is set for Feb. 19.