Domestic violence suspect dies after threatening to kill bedridden woman in Polk County, deputies say

LAKELAND, Fla. - A man accused of threatening to kill a bedridden woman – who was the suspect's family member – died after being arrested, according to the Polk County Sheriff’s Office. 

Deputies say they responded to a home on Memphis Road in unincorporated Lakeland in the early morning hours of April 24 and discovered 58-year-old Maximino Lopez-Gonzalez behaving erratically while in possession of methamphetamine. 

The deputies say Lopez-Gonzalez has sprayed a 65-year-old bedridden woman with cleaning chemicals and threatened to kill her.  

While taking the man to the inmate processing center, investigators say he began showing signs of" excited delirium," so the deputy stopped on the Polk Parkway near Highway 98 South. They said he was "making statements about seeing people and objects that were not there."

As deputies removed him from the patrol vehicle, they said he punched one of them and bit another deputy's finger. Officials also discovered a clear baggie of meth in the back seat of the patrol vehicle.

EMS was called, and the suspect was taken to Bartow Regional Medical Center, where he later died. 

An autopsy was performed, revealing that Lopez-Gonzalez had liver disease and an enlarged heart, officials said. A toxicology report is still pending.