Florida Man Killed After Allegedly Trying to Smother Mother, Stabbing Deputy

A Polk County Sheriff's deputy is recovering from stab wounds received while responding to an alleged attack on an elderly woman.

Polk County Deputy Sheriffs Aurelio Nicolas, Odalys Hurtado and Kyle Pitts responded to an elderly woman's 911 call around 2:45 p.m. on Sunday in Davenport, Florida — about 15 miles south of Walt Disney World — according to a press release from the sheriff's office. The caller reported to dispatchers that her adult son, whom she identified as Arthur Martin, 47, had attempted to kill her.

She told the arriving deputies that she had been napping on the living room sofa, but woke up when her son attempted to smother her by holding a pillow over her face. She said she'd managed to escape from the home, locked herself in her car outside and called 911.

The three deputies entered the residence, the sheriff's office said, and ultimately determined that Martin had locked himself in the en suite bathroom attached to his master bedroom. Martin refused commands to exit the bathroom, at which point the deputies fought to enter the bathroom, which Martin was barricading with his body.

When Nicolas, Hurtado and Pitts entered, Martin allegedly charged all three, punching Nicolas in the face and stabbing him with a large knife on the top of the head. The sheriff's office says Nicolas then hit Martin with his Taser, which was ineffective at stopping Martin's attack. 

The three deputies then shot Martin.

"My deputies did not choose to shoot this violent, convicted felon," Sheriff Grady Judd said in the department's press release. "He forced them to when he charged them with a knife and began attacking."

Nicolas received stitches for the laceration to his head. All three deputies were place on administrative leave in the initial phase of the investigation. Ultimately, agencies will review the circumstances of Martin's death: the Polk County Sheriff's Office's Homicide Unit; its Administrative Investigations unit; the State Attorney's office; and the 10th District Medical Examiner.

Martin was currently on parole from the state of New York, but being supervised by the state of Florida. He had been arrested by Suffolk County police on Long Island in June 2014 for armed assault with intent to cause serious injury; he was convicted in March 2016, sentences to four years and sent to a prison in upstate New York, according to New York state prison records. He was granted parole in November 2018, with supervision required until January 2024, and released in January 2019.

The Polk County Sheriff's Office says that Martin was also subject to a protective order in New York state prohibiting him from any contact with "an adult female and two children."

His mother told police after the incident that she did not know why he tried to kill her and that they hadn't had any recent arguments.