Unarmed Florida Man Shot at 17 Times by Police In Driveway Outside His House

An unarmed Florida man is recovering after being shot at multiple times by Escambia County, Florida police officers. The Florida sheriff deputies were responding to a call made by a neighbor of a possible burglary.

On early Saturday morning, Roy Middleton, 60, a married father of two, had just returned home from work around 2 AM and went to search through his 77 year-old sleeping mother Ceola Walker’s car for a loose cigarette when he heard someone telling him to hold his hands up.

What Middleton didn’t know is that a neighbor saw him reaching in the car and called 911 because they couldn’t tell who he was.

According to Roy Middleton, who spoke with Pensacola News Journal, when he heard the voice for him to hold his hands up, he first thought it was a neighbor joking with him, but he happened to look half-way down the driveway and saw deputies standing there.

Middleton goes on to say that as he proceeded to back out of the vehicle with his hands already raised, he turned towards the officers and they began firing bullets at him immediately.

The firing of bullets awakened his mother, who came to the door but was told to go back in and not come out.

The deputies, Jeremiah Meeks and Matthew White, are claiming Middleton lunged out of the car and spun towards them, however, a teen eyewitness’ story coincides with Roy Middleton’s story.

According to the teen witness, who said she saw a portion of the incident, Middleton never provoked the deputies nor was he belligerent or anything.

As the deputies have been placed on paid leave, Middleton family says that 17 shell casings were found and luckily Roy Middleton only got shot in his leg.

Middleton will now require an insertion of a metal rod in his left thigh due to shattered bones.

The incident is currently under investigation.