HILLSBOROUGH COUNTY, FLA. — A man accused of running an ambulance off the road in Hillsborough County was denied bond on Thursday after being coached by his mother to cry before a judge to get released, prosecutors said.
Johnny Arman, 25, was charged with two counts of aggravated battery on a firefighter with a deadly weapon.
He was denied bond by a judge on Thursday Arman is accused of running an ambulance off the road while trying get to a woman he battered, the Hillsborough County Sheriff’s Office (HCSO) said. The ambulance slammed into a utility pole.
“He thought alligator tears would work,” said the Hillsborough County State Attorney’s Office (HCSAO) in a Facebook post.
Prosecutors played a jail call in court where Arman's mother was heard telling him he needed to put on a “performance and cry for the judge if he wanted out on bond,”
In a separate jail call with another woman, the judge heard Arman laughing about what he did, prosecutors said.
On June 25, at 10:50 p.m., Hillsborough County Fire Rescue responded to a medical call at a Ruskin home.
While paramedics were providing emergency medical care to a female patient, Arman became hostile toward them, HCSO officials aid.
Despite repeated commands to stay back, Arman tried to force his way into the ambulance, interfering with paramedics.
After the ambulance left the home with the patient, Arman got into his vehicle and began following it toward the hospital, HCSO officials said.
While traveling on Upper Creek Drive near Galen Court, Arman used his vehicle to block the ambulance's path before accelerating directly toward it.
The ambulance driver attempted to avoid a collision, but Arman's vehicle struck the ambulance, forcing it off the roadway and into multiple utility boxes and a utility pole.
At the time of the crash, two Hillsborough County Fire Rescue paramedics and the patient were inside the ambulance.
The collision caused more than $100,000 in damage to utility infrastructure and required responses from TECO and Spectrum to repair the damaged equipment.
Arman also is being charged with is being charged with aggravated battery with a deadly weapon and unlawfully impeding, threatening or harassing a first responder; unlawfully impeding, threatening or harassing a first responder; unlawfully impeding, threatening or harassing a first responder; criminal mischief $1,000 or more and burglary of an authorized emergency vehicle.
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