A corrections officer reprimanded Nikolas Cruz. Cruz flipped him off, then attacked him, BSO says

A Tuesday evening fight between confessed Parkland mass murderer Nikolas Cruz and a Broward Sheriff’s Office corrections sergeant involving, BSO says, a Taser-like weapon resulted in three new charges to Cruz.

In addition to the 17 counts of first degree murder and 17 counts of attempted first degree murder after the Feb. 14 shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Cruz faces battery on a law enforcement officer; aggravated assault on a law enforcement officer; and use of a chemical or electric weapon against an officer.

It started with a middle finger, according to the arrest report.

A BSO Sgt. Beltran said he told Cruz not to drag his sandals on the ground as he walked around the dayroom Tuesday around 6 p.m.

“Cruz responded by displaying his middle finger to Betran,” the report said. “Beltran advised that as he began to stand up, Cruz rushed him and struck him in the face.”

Beltran eventually went down and Cruz took his conductive electronic weapon or CEW, of which TASER is the most well-known brand. The sergeant said the CEW went off while he and Cruz fought over it.

BSO investigator Ryan O’Malley said in the report that surveillance video of the fight showed Cruz hitting Beltran with a left hand punch, taking Beltran down, getting on top of Beltran and pounding Beltran repeatedly on the top of the head. Beltran, the investigator says, reversed the situation, getting Cruz down, but Cruz still managed to get the CEW out of its holster. After the CEW discharges, Beltran gets it back.

“Cruz then swings at Beltra and strikes Beltran several more times until Beltran uses his right hand, containing the CEW, to strike at Cruz’s face,” O’Malley wrote. “After being struck by Beltran, Cruz retreated to one of the seats located in the dayroom area, at which point Beltran was able to take him into custody.”

This story was originally published November 14, 2018 at 10:54 AM.