He is accused of shoving his badge into a boy's forehead and threatening with a gun.
By JACOB H. FRIES
Published November 15, 2005
LARGO - An off-duty Pinellas detention deputy was charged with battery after he shoved his badge into the forehead of a boy he had warned to stay away from his teenage daughter, police said Monday.
The boy, who was not injured, also told police that the deputy had threatened him and several friends with a gun, saying he would shoot them if they came onto his property, Largo police Deputy Chief John Carroll said. That allegation could potentially lead to an aggravated assault charge, a felony, Carroll said.
"We are looking into it," he said.
Mario Raul Velazquez, 38, who was hired as a detention deputy at the Pinellas County Jail in September, could not be reached for comment Monday. As a matter of policy, he will remain on the job during the investigation because the charge is a misdemeanor.
If he is charged with a felony, he will be put on paid administrative leave.
The incident unfolded Saturday when Velazquez told one of his daughters to stop associating with a group of neighborhood teens, Carroll said. In the evening, while Velazquez was out to dinner, one of his neighbors called his cell phone saying the teens were in his back yard.
Velazquez returned home and confronted the group, which had moved down the street from his house, Carroll said. He showed them his Sheriff's Office badge and shoved it into one of the boys' heads, he said.
Velazquez denied touching the boy's forehead. He later told officers the boy had become confrontational, Carroll said.
Velazquez then produced a handgun, police said. He told police he felt threatened by the group, which he said was growing increasingly aggressive. The teens said the deputy threatened to shoot them. Officers were dispatched at 9:16 p.m. and took Velazquez to the county jail. He was later released on his own recognizance.
Internal affairs detectives were notified of Velazquez's arrest, sheriff's spokesman Mac McMullen said.
