Deputy Punched in Face During Investigation of Hit-and-Run

Date Added: April 30, 2018 10:59 pm

Contact: Laura Williams
Office of Media Relations & Public Affairs

VCSO DEPUTY INJURED DURING HIT-RUN INVESTIGATION, SUSPECT CHARGED 

A 22-year-old Deltona man is in custody tonight and charged with battery on a law enforcement office following a traffic investigation that turned violent.

Rhett Andrew Dickerson, 22 (DOB: 12/5/95), was the subject of an investigation into a hit-and-run accident reported just before 7 tonight. A male victim reported his vehicle was hit by a truck at the intersection of East Normandy and Saxon boulevards in Deltona. The victim said there were no injuries and the truck then left the scene and he followed it.

The victim reportedly told the suspect driver to stop and the victim took a photo of the suspect vehicle's license plate. The investigation then led to a home in the 1000 block of Parnell Court where a Volusia County sheriff's deputy was investigating the accident. The deputy was in the process of arresting Dickerson for leaving the scene of the accident. That's when the suspect failed to follow commands, slipped out of his shirt, and the deputy's grasp. Dickerson hit the deputy in the face, injuring his left eye, and fled at about 7:37 p.m.

The sheriff's Air 1 helicopter and K-9 officers searched for Dickerson. He was found hiding in the house at 1079 Parnell Court and was eventually coaxed into giving himself up just before 9 p.m. 
The deputy suffered a laceration under his left eye and the eye is swollen but the deputy was alert and in good spirits. He is being treated for his injuries at Saxon Medical Center in Deltona. 
  
Dickerson is being charged with battery on a law enforcement officer and is in the process of being booked into the Volusia County Branch Jail.