Melee in hospital ends in attempted murder charge

A 31-year-old Fort Lauderdale man in custody on a probation violation is now facing charges of attempted murder after a wild melee in a hospital room where authorities said he tried to kill a corrections deputy assigned to guard him.

Ricky Jacquelin was eventually subdued by a second Broward sheriff’s deputy and several Broward Health Medical Center staff members.

Williams, who sustained a laceration to her wrist and bruises to her back and legs, said “she was in fear for her life and believed that the defendant was going to kill her,” deputies wrote in an affidavit.

The incident began April 12 when Jacquelin was picked up by Fort Lauderdale police on a warrant for a violation of the terms of his pretrial release on a burglary charge.

The next day Jacquelin was taken from the Broward County jail to the hospital to see if he was medically fit to be held in jail, authorities said.

At about 10 p.m. April 13 in hospital room 6038, a nurse noticed that Jacquelin, who was in bed and in leg shackles, was not swallowing his medication. When the nurse looked more closely at Jacquelin, she noticed that he was holding in his hand a piece of paper containing feces, the report said.

At that point Williams approached the bed and tried to put him in handcuffs. She snapped one cuff onto his right wrist before Jacquelin “jumped out of the hospital bed without warning and tackled [Williams] to the ground,” the report said.

Jacquelin landed on top of the deputy and put her in a headlock, deputies said.

What ensued was a wrestling match, during which Jacquelin slapped the dangling handcuff on Williams’s left wrist and tried to grab her gun from its holster while two hospital workers tried to get Jacquelin off the deputy by pulling on his leg shackles.

As the tussle continued, Williams managed to make a radio call for help and find the key to free herself from the handcuff.

Several other hospital staff members rushed in, followed by Deputy Thomas Trawinski, who hit Jacquelin with a shot from a stun gun.

“Eventually, after a long struggle between the defendant, deputies and hospital staff, they were able to subdue the defendant and place him into restraints,” deputies wrote.

In addition to attempted murder, Jacquelin is charged with battery on a police officer, false imprisonment and resisting arrest with violence.

Jacquelin is being held without bond in the Broward County jail.