A Fruitland Park man was arrested for allegedly battering his wife after she requested a divorce, causing her son to fight him off.
A deputy responded to a physical altercation in progress at an undisclosed Fruitland Park residence at 8:41 p.m. Tuesday, according to an arrest report from the Lake County Sheriff’s Office.
Screaming could be heard in the background of the call while the victim stated that her husband, 49-year-old Rogelio Medina, was beating her son. While still connected, the victim advised that Medina just threw himself down the stairs, got up from the floor and went into other rooms. She subsequently lost sight of him, the report said.
Upon arrival, the deputy met with Medina at the front door of the residence. He appeared to be visually disturbed by the deputy’s presence as he would not initially let him speak or talk about the incident. Medina then advised that he was just in a verbal argument with his wife and was attacked and pushed down the stairs by his son, resulting in injuries above his left eye, the report said.
The deputy proceeded to enter the residence and talk to the victim. She stated that upon Medina coming home from work, he was already irate due to both parties arguing all day prior to the altercation in reference to the victim requesting a divorce. She tried to separate herself from Medina by going into her bedroom on the second floor of the residence, the report said.
A short time later, Medina came into the bedroom, closed the door behind him and approached the victim while they began verbally arguing. He pressed his body against the victim while grabbing both of her arms from behind. The victim’s son then entered the room and pushed Medina off her, causing Medina and her son to partake in a physical altercation, the report said.
The victim left the room while Medina and her son were fighting to grab her cell phone, at which point Medina came at her again and took the phone. Medina and her son got into another physical altercation because he refused to give back the phone. Her son was able to recover the phone and gave it back to the victim. However, Medina and her son continued to fight, resulting in Medina pushing himself backward down the stairs, the report said.
The deputy then spoke to the victim’s son who stated that he heard screaming coming from the second floor of the residence while he was downstairs playing video games. He kicked his mother’s door open to see Medina holding her. Upon pushing him off, the two engaged in a physical altercation, the report said.
After both parties entered the hallway, the son observed Medina attempt to go after the victim once more by taking a cell phone from her possession. He held Medina back which led to another physical altercation over the phone. The son ultimately returned the phone to the victim, but Medina re-engaged a physical altercation. This resulted in him pushing himself down the stairs and walking away while the son waited upstairs with the victim until the arrival of law enforcement, the report said.
Medina was then taken into custody and brought to Lake County Jail. The report noted that while being transported, he began acting extremely belligerent. He made statements such as “if I’m going to jail, you’re going to have to work for it” and “pull this car over and see what happens.” He also moved his body to reposition his handcuffs from the rear of his body to the front while making several unruly statements. Prior to arriving at the jail, he moved the handcuffs back to their original place.
The Texas native was charged with domestic battery (second or subsequent offense) and deprivation of 911. Bond was set at $15,000.
Medina was also arrested in Dec. 2021 after being caught behind the wheel as a habitual traffic offender.
