Police: Violent struggle between police and suspects

Lake Wales, Florida - Officers say what started out as traffic stop Saturday afternoon quickly turned into a violent struggle between police and several suspects.

The incident began around 2:45 p.m. when Officer Sean Ouellette stopped a car driven by Vincent Thomas for a window tint violation at C Street and Dr. J.A. Wiltshire Ave. When Officer Ouellette approached Thomas, Ouellette realized Thomas was eating marijuana.

Officer Ouellette attempted to place Thomas under arrest; however he began physically struggling to escape. During the struggle, bystanders in the area approached the two and began shouting threats and profanities at Officer Ouellette. A public Safety Cadet who was riding with Officer Ouellette radioed for assistance then got out of the vehicle to tell the group to back away. As he did this, an agitated bystander identified as Donovan Gray approached the Cadet and punched him in the chest.

As this was occurring, two of Thomas' passengers grabbed the marijuana he had not been able to destroy and ran from the car. Those subjects were identified as brothers Charles and Clifford Hart.

When backup units arrived, Thomas was handcuffed and placed into a nearby patrol car. Angered by the arrest, the crowd continued to get larger and became more agitated.

When Officers tried to arrest Gray for striking the Public Safety Cadet, he punched one officer and began fighting with other officers. Officers attempted to use a taser to subdue Gray; however another angry bystander, Ernest Hampton intervened by pulling the taser probes from Gray allowing him to continue fighting. Hampton's involvement was not actually discovered until detectives reviewed video footage of the incident that had been captured on a patrol car camera. Eventually Gray was arrested, allowing officers to focus on calming and dispersing the crowd, which had now become even more belligerent.

During this incident numerous sheriff's deputies as well as Troopers from the Florida Highway Patrol responded from throughout the county to provide assistance dispersing
the crowd.

Ultimately, the crowd of between 75 to 100 people was dispersed and law enforcement was able to leave the area at around 4:00 p.m.

Two officers as well as a suspect were treated and released for minor injuries at the Lake Wales Medical Center.

Arrested during this incident were the following individuals:

Vincent Thomas, Possession of less than 20 grams of marijuana, tampering with evidence, and resisting arrest without violence.

Donovan Gray, Battery on a law enforcement officer and resisting arrest with violence.

Wanted on charges related to this incident are the following:

Charles Hart Jr, Tampering with evidence.

Clifford Hart, Tampering with evidence. Also wanted for violation of probation for sale of marijuana.

Ernest Hampton Jr B, Aiding escape and battery on a law enforcement officer.

Anyone with information is asked to call Polk County Crime Stoppers at 1-800-226 TIPS.