Update: Suspects Arrested: 2 Injured In Deltona Bar Fight Stabbing Overnight

Date Added: March 06, 2022 11:58 am

Andrew Gant
Office of Public Affairs & Media Relations

2 INJURED IN DELTONA BAR FIGHT STABBING OVERNIGHT

Volusia sheriff’s detectives are investigating the stabbings of two men during a bar fight overnight in Deltona.

Deputies responded to Dizzy D’s at 1200 Deltona Blvd. around 2 a.m. after witnesses reported two men were stabbed during an altercation outside the bar.

Both of the injured men were transported to an area hospital for treatment of serious injuries, and they’re both expected to make full recoveries.

The other parties involved in the fight left the scene. The investigation of the incident is active and ongoing and updates will be provided as they become available.

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Update (3/25/22): Two suspects involved in a March 6 stabbing at Dizzy D’s in Deltona have been arrested after a thorough investigation by Volusia sheriff’s detectives.

Using witness information, surveillance video, social media, fingerprints and other technology and tactics, detectives identified 26-year-old Antonio Juan Santiago Jr. (DOB 4/13/1995) and 46-year-old Ernesto Maldonado Rivera (DOB 1/15/1976) as the two men who fled in a vehicle after the bar fight.

The fight started over a missing cell phone. When one of the victims asked the suspects if they’d seen the phone, they were offended and became aggressive. The surveillance video showed the suspect later identified as Santiago was the main aggressor in the fight. He continued attacking with a knife multiple times after the fight could have ended, stabbing the victims from behind or while their attention was elsewhere.

Santiago Jr. was arrested Thursday evening in Deltona on a warrant charging him with two counts of aggravated battery with a deadly weapon. He remains in custody at the Volusia County Branch Jail with a bond of $100,000. Maldonado Rivera, who was involved in the fight but did not use a weapon, was arrested Wednesday afternoon in Deltona and charged with tampering with physical evidence and accessory after the fact. He was released from the Branch Jail later Wednesday after posting $10,000 bail.

The victims were hospitalized and survived serious injuries in the fight.