Nick Morris

Florencio Hernandez grappled with two Escondido police officers after his truck was towed

Two Escondido police officers said they ended up rolling in wet iceplant by the side of the road with a combative man who managed to get ahold of one officer’s taser and engage it.

Officer Christopher Leso said he put his hand over the taser after Florencio Hernandez took it away from him, and he felt pain in his fingers while he heard the clicking of the device being operated. Officer Timothy Kelly said he felt the electrical current through his body while he attempted to stop Hernandez from beating Leso about the head.

It was a rainy day in Escondido on January 3 when officers arrived on the scene of a single-car smashup. A witness told police a Nissan truck was speeding at approximately 50 miles per hour when it went through a wooden barrier at the end of a dead-end street, Vista Verde Way. The truck pitched up a muddy slope and then smashed into a granite boulder. The single occupant then walked away, into a nearby avocado grove.

After police had the disabled truck towed away, Florencio Hernandez came out of the trees and began striking the two officers who remained. Thirty-five-year-old Hernandez, 5 foot 9 inches and 190 pounds, took on Kelly at 5 foot 10 inches and 185 pounds and Leso at 5 feet 11 inches tall and 200 pounds.

Kelly suffered a bite wound and damaged knee. Leso suffered a bite wound, an inguinal hernia, and herniated spinal disc. Florencio Hernandez got six felonies.

Hernandez smiled while he listened to officers recall the incident for a judge during a preliminary hearing last week in the Vista Courthouse. Hernandez is pleading not guilty through his public defender and will be formally rearraigned March 3.