Impaired DeLand motorist pulls box cutter on deputy

DELAND -- A DeLand man is facing a series of criminal charges after pulling a box cutter on a Volusia County Sheriff's deputy Friday night. No one was injured during the episode, which occurred at about 10:35 p.m. in the parking lot of a business on North Woodland Boulevard north of DeLand, Sheriff's spokesman Gary Davidson said.

Deputies were dispatched to the scene after receiving a report of a car crash. As it turned out, there was no crash: The car had merely driven off the road and into a stump in the driveway of the business. When deputies arrived at the scene, they found paramedics trying to wake the driver, 33-year-old Daniel Villaverde, Davidson said.

"Deputies noted that Villaverde smelled of alcohol and initially didn't respond to efforts to wake him," Davidson said. "He finally woke up, but seemed confused and under the influence of alcohol or drugs. Deputies also spotted several beer cans in the car. After Villaverde was finally awakened, a deputy ordered him out of the vehicle. Instead of complying, the driver pulled out a metal box cutter and held it towards the deputy."

The deputy quickly disarmed Villaverde and took him into custody, although he resisted efforts to be removed from the vehicle and handcuffed, Davidson said.

Villaverde was taken to the Volusia County Branch Jail in Daytona Beach after he declined to submit to a breath test and was charged with DUI, aggravated assault on a law enforcement officer, driving with a cancelled license and resisting an officer without violence, Davidson said. He was being held on $6,500 bond.