Keys family argument ended with samurai sword drawn, police said

A Lower Keys man was jailed Thursday after police said he produced a samurai sword during a family argument that began when he overstayed his welcome.

When Monroe County Sheriff’s Office deputies arrived at the home at 8 Jade Drive on Big Coppitt Key, the bearer of the samurai sword had his weapon in its sheath, according to the arrest report.

Dwayne Fred Day II, 24, who was staying with his parents, was booked into the Stock Island county jail on a misdemeanor charge of improper displaying a dangerous weapon. He remained locked up Friday on a $7,500 bond.

Day’s father called police to report his son was wielding “a knife” and possibly attempting “suicide by cop.” Deputies said they found Day II standing behind a boat in the yard with a samurai sword about 12:34 p.m. Thursday.

“Day II was very agitated and was refusing to put the sword down after being asked to do several times,” Deputy Vicki Lockwood-Fleck wrote in her report. “Day II kept saying we were there to hurt him.”

Day II’s father, Dwayne Day Jr., told police his son had been staying with the family for two weeks as a temporary home near mile marker 10 while he was supposed to stay clean off drugs, the report states. But the younger Day was using drugs the entire time, his father said.

When asked to leave “because everyone in the house is afraid of him,” Day II “went crazy” and went outside while his father locked the door behind him, deputies said.

Day II allegedly began screaming at his father through the glass door that he would get a machete and “start swinging until everyone is hurt” if police were called. The father told deputies he was in fear for his life and those of the rest of the family.

Day II also told his father he would do a “suicide by cop” but make sure to hurt him, his father, first. Deputies said they talked Day II down and he complied with orders to put the sword down.

This story was originally published July 16, 2016 at 8:53 PM with the headline "Keys family argument ended with samurai sword drawn, police said."