Parkland school shooter Nikolas Cruz appeared in court on Monday for a trial in relation to a November 2018 altercation, which was delayed after a Broward deputy was arrested for DUI in Washington state. Cruz is charged with battery, aggravated assault, and use of a chemical or electric weapon against Sgt. Raymond Beltran that happened at the Broward County Jail. Beltran was supposed to appear in court on Monday morning but he was accused of driving under the influence while on duty back in March 2019.

Beltran on duty while driving under influence

Police said Beltran was driving an inmate and was pulled over by an officer after he was illegally changing lanes and speeding. Beltran was given a sobriety test and failed. Then he refused to take a breathalyzer test right after. WSVN 7 stated, his blood was drawn after a court order was issued and Beltran had a blood-alcohol level of .15. The officer informed Beltran that Washington state has a requirement to tow vehicles for DUI. The officer also told him he would have to take him to jail and send his breathalyzer results over to the precinct.

Since Beltran couldn't appear in court due to his pending case and charges, Cruz continued to attend the hearing with his defense attorneys.

The judge scheduled another hearing for Jan. 27 at 10:30 a.m.

Altercation between Cruz and Beltran

According to court documents, the altercation happened at the Broward County Jail after the deputy allegedly told Cruz to pick up his feet. Cruz and Beltran traded words with one another and Cruz ended up punching Beltran in the face then grabbed his stun gun after they scuffled.

Local 10 reported, Defense attorney Joseph Burke stated he would like to view the existing surveillance video that shows what happened before and after the incident. He mentioned that BSO didn't release the video and it could possibly demonstrate what caused Cruz to attack Beltran. Prosecutors are calling this a 'delay tactic' and objected Burke's statement.

The prosecutor mentioned that she wouldn't know where the recording would be and is not sure if whatever happened before the incident would matter. She also suggested that if the recording can't be found, then her team has nothing to do with that.

Murder Trial

The jury for Cruz's murder trial hasn't been selected yet. The selection was planned to be scheduled for the end of this month however the trial ended up being delayed after the defense attorneys requested more time. Cruz has been in jail since he committed the mass shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School on Valentine's Day in 2018. Cruz requested an Uber and went to the school with a hidden AR-15 style semi-automatic rifle. He killed 17 people.
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